


Celestial Witch

by EvenescentTranquility



Category: Fairy Tail, Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: BAMF Harry Potter, BAMF Lucy Heartfilia, Cam the Chameleon, Celestial Spirits as Family, Do not repost, Duke Everlue is disgusting, F/F, F/M, Female Harry Potter, Fluff, Lemon, Lore - Freeform, Lucy is fem!Harry, M/M, Multi, NSFW, Pradeshverse (Fairy Tail), Realistic, Reincarnation, Sex, Strong Female Characters, Team Bonding, Vulcans being the absolutely disgusting creatures they are, exploring celestial magic, however I will warn you when the explicit stuff is coming, mentions of rape/non-con, more specific sex tags will be added, this story will have sex, world building
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-27
Updated: 2021-01-11
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:00:29
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 9
Words: 105,318
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25553200
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EvenescentTranquility/pseuds/EvenescentTranquility
Summary: Harri Potter was given a second chance at life and reincarnated as a young girl named Lucy Heartfilia a budding Celestial mage. With her keys, her new family, at her side, she's ready to take Earthland by storm.
Relationships: Lucy Heartfilia/?, Undecided
Comments: 534
Kudos: 1512
Collections: Reincarnation and Transmigration





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is a femHarry as Lucy story, with the pairing undecided for the moment though I'm leaning toward Laxus, or Erik as potentials.

“Will you tell me a story mama?”

Layla smiled down at her daughter, reaching out to run a hand through her golden hair. Lucy was such a good girl, always well behaved and quiet. She hardly ever asked for anything, which was why she was more than happy to indulge her whenever she did ask. Besides it was hard not to melt when those pretty green eyes stared up at her so beseechingly. Neither she nor Jude were really sure where the green had come from, but both of them found them stunning nonetheless.

“What kind of story princess?” she asked teasingly, though she already knew the answer. Her daughter only ever wanted to hear about one thing.

“A story about the stars mama,” her only child told her solemnly.

“Of course,” Layla assured her daughter, “How about a story about Capricorn today?”

Lucy nodded and snuggled into her side, staring up at her attentively.

“Let’s see, once, back when I was young, just a few years older than you I…”

♈️ ♉️ ♊️ ♋️ ♌️ ♍️ ♎️ ♏️ ♐️ ♑️ ♒️ ♓️

Lucy allowed her mother’s words to wash over her as she paid careful attention to the words of the story. She loved these stories about the stars, her mother and magic. They reminded her of the one true parental figure she’d had in her last life. Sirius had always loved telling her about the stars too, because all his family were named after them. Laying on the roof of Grimmauld Place with Sirius listening to him as he told her stories, was one of the few wonderful memories she had of her previous life.

Between the Dursley’s the trials she’d faced at Hogwarts, the war, and her death at age eighteen happy memories for her from that life were few and far between. Fortunately it seemed that this life was going to be far better than the previous one, which made sense. After all when she’d died and gone to the beyond, Fate and Death had told her this life was supposed to be a reward of sorts. A second chance without a prophecy hanging over her, in a new world, with nothing to remind her of her old memories.

At first she’d actually tried to decline said reward, but Death in particular had been insistent, and had even brought in her parents and Sirius to help convince her that it was alright to do so. Listening to the stories her new mother had been telling her from the time she was born, she liked to think they’d also had a hand in choosing where exactly she ended up. Sirius in particular would’ve approved.

“Mama?” she asked determinedly, as her mother finished her story.

“Hmm?”

“Will I be able to summon the spirits too?” it was something she’d been wondering for a while now. Hearing about this strange new branch of magic was absolutely fascinating. She’d never heard of anything like that before even in her last life. She wasn’t sure how magic in this strange new world worked at all, only that it seemed everyone knew about it, it wasn’t hidden at all like in her last world, and everyone who could use it seemed to be different, and that she still had some of it. She could feel it, the same as it had been before, a comforting warmth that hovered around her. Whether or not that meant she could do what her mother did in the stories she told was something she’d yet to find the answer for.

“Would you like to learn someday Lucy?” her mother asked her, and she could see that despite the seriousness with which she’d asked the question there was a strange sort of wistfulness on her mother’s face, one that she didn’t entirely understand.

“I would,” she answered as firmly as she could despite her young age. She was only six after all, but she’d like to begin as soon as possible, after all it sounded really interesting, and she missed being able to use magic, “It would be nice to have some new friends.”

“Are you lonely Lucy?” Layla asked and Lucy could see the stress and sadness on the older woman’s face. She was taken aback by the question, but thinking it over she could see why she would ask. After all any other six-year-old, one who wasn’t reborn would probably be lonely with only her parents, and the servants for company.

Her seclusion was somewhat necessary because of how rich her parents were. There had been kidnapping attempts before that had led them to be exceedingly overprotective of her. Admittedly none of them had actually gotten close thanks to the diligent, loving servants, but she knew it had frightened her parents to bits.

Up to this point she hadn’t really thought a whole lot about her lack of peers, but if she was honest she was a bit glad for their absence. Sure she had a six-year-old body right now, and sometimes that led to somewhat childish behavior, but never so much that she would be comfortable attempting to play with an actual child as equals. After all she had been considered an adult in the wizarding world when she died, and she’d never actually played with a child before not even when she’d actually been one no thanks to the Dursleys and Dudley.

“No mama,” she assured her mother, wanting to erase the guilt on her face more than she wanted to press to learn magic right away, “I have you and papa and Spetto, and Bero, and Ribbon and Aed.”

Unfortunately her reassurance didn’t actually seem to help, instead her mother looked even more troubled as she ran gentle fingers through Lucy’s hair. She watched as a myriad of expressions seemed to come over her mother’s face, before finally settling on determination.

She squeaked in surprise as her mother lifted her up into her arms, standing up from where they’d been sitting on one of the lavish couches in the family sitting room, and moving swiftly down the hall, and into the library. 

Curious she opened her mouth to ask her mother where they were going only to be set carefully on her feet as her mother used her now free hand to knock on the door to the librarian’s personal rooms.

There was a brief shuffling noise and then the door swung open to reveal a short, extremely old man, leaning heavily on a walking stick. He was the only person she knew in this new life who wore a robe, and one of the few in either life who actually wore one of the signature pointed hats of witches and wizards in a florid pink color with a bright yellow heart, the type of combination that would’ve made Dumbledore proud.

He was also extremely familiar to her, one of the handful of servants her parents trusted implicitly. Bero was a kindly old man who was extremely knowledgeable about magic. Unfortunately he tended to ramble off on to tangents whenever she tried to ask questions leading her to be even more confused than before she asked.

“Madam Layla! And little Miss Lucy, what can I do for you this fine afternoon?” he asked his frail, reedy voice cheerful despite its wavering quality.

“Bero,” her mother greeted clear fondness in her voice, “I know you usually are organizing the books this hour, but I was wondering if you had the time to do me a favor.”

“Of course, of course, come on in girls, I was actually just about to make some tea, you’re more than welcome to join me,” he told them gesturing them into the room.

The three of them got settled with Bero providing her several books to sit on to boost her so she could reach the table properly, a use for books that would’ve left Hermione and Madam Pince in hysterics if they’d ever seen it. She would’ve been a bit embarrassed about it if he wasn’t also using a few as a seat himself.

“So what favor were you hoping to ask of me Madam Layla?” Bero asked as they all sipped their tea.

“I was hoping that you might be willing to begin teaching Lucy how to open the Celestial Gates,” Layla informed him bluntly causing Bero to choke on his tea in surprise and Lucy herself to fumble a bit with her cup, spilling a couple droplets on her dress, not that she noticed or cared as she stared hopefully between her mother and Bero.

“Madam Layla are you sure?” Bero asked surprised, “I know you’ve always hoped Lucy will follow in your footsteps and become a Celestial Mage like you, but she’s a bit young still.”

“She asked me today if she could learn,” her mother explained looking half extremely proud and half profoundly sad, “And while I don’t think she should start on anything big yet, she could at least try for a silver key, it may not work right away of course, especially since she’s never used magic before, but with some trying I know she could do it.”

Bero was frowning thoughtfully glancing between her and her mother and she gave him her best pleading stare hope growing in her chest at the idea that she might soon be able to use magic again. 

“And besides, Lucy wants to have a companion, a friend, what better friend than a Celestial Spirit?” Layla coaxed.

Bero’s face instantly softened and he nodded, “Alright dears, I can certainly show her how, and we do have a few silver keys around that she can pick from to try.”

“Oh thank you mama! Bero!” she cheered ecstatic, unable to help herself as childish glee mixed with adult relief at being able to use magic again, even if it wasn’t the magic she’d been used to.

“Don’t get too excited just yet missy!” Bero warned her though his face and tone were kind, “First let’s make sure you remember enough from the stories, after all it wouldn’t do to have you jump right in without any knowledge.”

Lucy nodded a bit ruefully, more than willing to be patient. They would get there eventually now that both her mama and Bero had agreed she could try, and besides she’d been burned too many times because she didn’t have the information she needed. She’d learned her lesson there.

“Good girl,” Bero approved with a nod, “Now tell me what you remember about keys.”

“There are several types of keys,” Lucy began racking her brain for what she knew, “and each key opens a gate for a Celestial Spirit to pass from the Spirit Realm to Earthland. There are eighty-eight different types of keys in all, based on the eighty-eight constellations. The first and lowest tier keys are the silver keys, while they’re the lowest tier, they’re also the most varied type of key both in the power it takes to open their gates and in what the Celestial Spirit whose gate the key opens, can do.”

“They’re also the most common type of key with several copies of the same key for most of the gates, though some keys are rarer than others,” she kept going warming to her subject, realizing that from her mother’s stories she actually knew far more than she’d thought she did, “the next tier of keys are the golden keys, there are twelve of the regular gold keys which link to the zodiac constellations, and one black gold key which links to the constellation Ophiucus. These are far rarer than the silver keys with only one known key for each zodiac in existence.”

“Finally there are the legendary crystal keys,” she breathed excited just thinking about them, “These keys as implied in the name are only known in legend, and no one in living memory has found or wielded one successfully because they need so much magic from the Celestial Mage to open the gate and power the spirit.”

“Very good, very good,” Bero cheered as she finished her explanation, and she blushed, embarrassed and pleased at her mother and Bero’s proud smiles.

“Now what we haven’t told you yet is that when a Celestial Mage first calls a Spirit with their key, a contract has to be made,” Bero lectured, his reedy voice surprisingly firm, “This is a contract that tells you when the Spirit allows you to call on them, and what they’re willing to do when you call. Not all spirits like to fight after all, and others only like to fight!”

“These contracts are very important Lucy,” her mother took over gently but firmly her eyes very serious, “They’re a promise between Mage and Spirit, one that must never, ever be broken, you cannot forget a single part of that contract, not ever Lucy, this is the most important part of being a Celestial Mage.”

“Indeed, indeed,” Bero agreed, “Unlike other types of mage we work with living creatures, who have thoughts, feelings, and desires of their own. Therefore there are three rules that I set down for every Celestial Mage I train.”

“First, spirits are friends, they aren’t tools or toys,” he told her firmly, raising a finger, “Second our keys are a physical manifestation of our bond to our spirits and are never to be disrespected. And finally, and most importantly…”

_“A Celestial Mage never breaks a promise,”_ her mother and Bero intoned together, though Bero added, “Be that through a contract or through spoken words.”

“Normally I wouldn’t allow you to do this, this young, because most children your age wouldn’t understand the severity of breaking promises, losing the trust and loyalty of the spirits can have dreadful consequences, but you’re a very mature girl, you always have been. Do you understand Lucy?” her mother asked gently, running her fingers through her hair.

Lucy nodded solemnly. The last rule sounded like it worked very much the same way as magical vows and contracts worked, especially with the vaguely ominious ‘dreadful consequences’. After all magic in her last life did not take oath breakers by written or spoken word lightly and nearly always earned themselves lethal and extraordinarily painful retribution of some kind depending on the severity of the broken oath.

“I understand mama, Bero, I’ll be very careful and treat my new friend right,” she assured them gravely.

“Good girl,” Bero affirmed patting her leg gently, “Now since you already know most of what you need to know, all that’s left is to show you how to open a Celestial gate.”

He hopped carefully down from his seat and moved into a more open part of the room instructing, “Pay careful attention now Lucy, the magic to open Celestial gates is all the same, the only difference is the key you use and the amount of magic it takes to both open the gate and keep it open.”

Lucy nodded as the elderly man produced a key from the folds of his robe and turned to the side, he held the key out as if reaching for a door, and turned the key as if unlocking it intoning the words, “Gate of the Southern Cross, I open thee Crux!”

There was a whoosh and a sound that reminded her of the ringing of a doorbell, and a strange spirit appeared in a shower of sparkles. He was floating cross-legged in midair, with his hands on his knees, humanoid in shape, with an old man’s knobby knees and elbows, except for his head which was an enormous silver cross that looked far too big for his body. The cross had intricate gold designs on it, and there was a face at the center, with the features of an old man and a strangely shaped mustache whose handlebars were shaped like crosses.

“You called Bero?” the old spirit asked in a voice very similar to Bero’s own.

“Yes Crux my old friend,” the mage greeted with a cheery smile, “I wanted to introduce you to our newest Celestial mage to be, Lucy Heartfilia. She’ll be getting her first key today and I wanted to show her how it was done, and was hoping you’d explain what you do to her so she can get an idea of some of the varied powers of silver keys.”

The spirit turned his gaze on her and smiled floating over to where she sat. She immediately hopped off her chair and curtsied politely the way her mother had taught her to do when father’s important business associates came around.

“Hello child, such a polite little girl, and Heartfilia, that must make you Layla’s daughter,” the spirit greeted kindly, “You look just like her.”

“Yes sir, that’s my mama,” she agreed casting a glance back at her mother who was smiling proudly.

“No need for sir, I’m too old and crusty for formalities, just call me Crux,” the spirit told her with a laugh, “And Layla dear, it’s wonderful to see you again.”

“It’s good to see you too old friend,” her mother agreed walking forward to hug the spirit who embraced her in return.

“How are you dear?” Crux asked gently his voice kind and concerned.

“Doing well,” Layla agreed though not without a meaningful glance in her direction, one that made her frown in confusion and concern even as Crux nodded his understanding.

“Good, good,” the spirit replied cheerfully before turning back to Lucy, “Now, let’s see Bero wanted me to explain my contract to you hmm?”

He stroked his mustache carefully as he explained, “I am a keeper of knowledge for the Celestial Realm, there’s very little I don’t know or can’t find out. I use a branch of magic called archive, that lets me search for almost anything. The only limits to the information I can offer my summoner are the limits imposed by the Spirits themselves. It wouldn’t do to reveal personal information after all, that would be cruel, and I cannot tell you where to find keys either.”

“That’s really neat!” Lucy told him as she thought it over, a little awed at the power of this particular spirit. After all if there was one thing Hermione had taught her in all their years of friendship it was that knowledge was a power all its own, “You must know all kinds of interesting things.”

“Indeed I do,” the spirit agreed, clearly flattered as he patted her head, “So is there anything I can help you with before I go?”

“I could use your help identifying some keys before you go,” Bero spoke up reaching into his robes and pulling out a ring with three silver keys dangling from it.

“I see, let me take a look,” Crux offered with a grin floating over and examining the keys closely, before nodding to himself then slumping over, soft snores leaving his mouth.

“He fell asleep!” Lucy yelped in surprise.

Both her mother and Bero erupted into amused laughs, and Lucy turned to look at them completely baffled.

“I’d forgotten how amusing it is when someone sees Crux in action for the first time,” Bero chuckled.

“He’s not asleep Lucy dear, that’s just how he looks and sounds when he uses his archive magic,” her mother explained with a grin.

“I’ve got it!” Crux announced, popping up from his slump like a jack in the box and making her squeak in shock at his sudden enervation.

The spirit held his hand out for the keys that Bero gladly handed over, sifting through them carefully he told them, “This one is The Gate of The Dove, Columba, this is The Gate of the Little Horse, Equus, and finally The Gate of the Great Dog Canis Major.”  
“Excellent, thank you Crux,” Bero told the spirit a pleased grin on his face as he accepted the keys back, “Well Miss Lucy? What do you think? Any one of them would be an excellent first friend.”

“For me?” she echoed caught off guard.

“That’s right,” Bero told her with an encouraging smile, “Your first silver key, it’ll be my gift to you, so which one would you like?”

Lucy stared at the keys thoughtfully. Bero was right, each could make a good first choice for her, she was sure any little girl would be pleased to have a pony as a friend, doves were beautiful and with the potential for flight, and dogs were wonderful loyal companions. However there was only one choice for her.

“This one,” she told Bero without hesitation, accepting the key from his hand.

“That one? Are you sure Miss Lucy?” Bero asked clearly surprised.

“I’m sure,” she assured him, palming the key, it was surprisingly warm in her hands. She held it up to her face and examined the silver key, the bow was shaped like a dog’s paw, with the constellation Canis Major engraved into the center footpad and the blade was a series of sharp points obviously meant to represent fangs.

Canis Major, the Great Dog, her fingers closed around it with a fierce sense of joy, and anticipation, Canis Major, the constellation to contain the dog star Sirius, a fitting tribute to the godfather who’d loved her in her first life.

“Alright then, if you’ve made your choice then all that’s left is to try opening the gate,” Bero prompted eagerly, “Just do what I did before.”

She nodded eagerly, taking a firm stance and clutching her key in her hand she brandished it as if she was going to open the door, twisting she called, “Gate of the Great Dog, I open thee, Canis Major!”

It seemed the world was holding its breath in that moment one second, two, three… and nothing.

She looked up at the three others in the room confused and a bit panicked. Could she not do it? Did she not have magic after all? She was sure she’d felt it under her skin before. She wasn’t sure what she would do without it. Sure she knew how to survive without, she’d lived as a muggle for years, but it would be like some enormous part of her was missing, as if she were broken.

Heart beating wildly in anxiety she glanced at the three faces in the room, who were all watching her. The gentle amusement on their faces released some of her tension, “Um what did I do wrong?”

“Lucy dear It’s not your fault, that’s why we said it would probably take a while,” her mother assured her obviously holding back a smile, “You haven’t connected with your magic power yet, that could take some time, and even when you do get there it might take a while to get up enough power to open the gate and sustain it.”

“So it’s because I didn’t use any magic when I tried to open the gate?” she asked hopefully.

“That’s right child,” Crux reassured her and she let out a sigh of relief. She had magic after all, she just hadn’t tapped into it when she did the spell. That made sense, after all you could wave a wand and say all the incantations you wanted but without tapping into your magic it, it was the equivalent of waving around a stick and shouting nonsense words, in other words totally useless.

“Okay. I understand!” she told them with a grin. She could do this, she just had to tap into her magic right?

♈️ ♉️ ♊️ ♋️ ♌️ ♍️ ♎️ ♏️ ♐️ ♑️ ♒️ ♓️

Crux watched the little girl with amusement as she went to try again. Such a sweet determined child, as to be expected from Layla’s daughter and the Heartfilia line. He was a little confused that they were starting her so young, why he remembered Layla’s training all those years ago and she didn’t even begin until she was fifteen. As it was he really doubted she’d be able to open the gate for several years yet, especially since of the keys she’d been offered she’d chosen the most magic extensive one.

Canis Major only had the one key, one of the few silver ones that did. 

Still he was grateful to be witnessing this moment, the first attempts at summoning a Celestial Spirit. It was a defining moment for any Celestial Mage and he was always proud when he got the chance to be a part of it.

He watched as the young girl focused on the key in her hand, her eyes locked on the glinting metal, her small face scrunched up in concentration. She appeared to be taking the summoning very seriously, a rare trait for a child as young as she was. Still the Heartfilia’s had always been exceptional, as the first ones to contract with the Celestial Realm it made sense that they, of all Celestial Mages would be some of the best. The only reason Layla hadn’t become a famous Mage in her own right was because of her illness.

It had been a tragedy to find out the newest Heartfilia wouldn’t be able to remain a true Celestial Mage, and the spirits had all mourned the loss of her talent. Frankly there had been whispers of fear that Layla’s tragic illness might be the end of the Heartfilia line of Celestial Mages.

He was so caught up in his thoughts that he didn’t notice at first, and it was only Layla’s quiet gasp of shock that he finally cottoned on to the slow building of power in the room that made the air seem thick and the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. Small bursts of wind began to move through the air ruffling his clothing, and making loose papers float off the ground as the magic built higher and higher, and hints of gold and bright blue light began to manifest as an enormous magical circle beneath her feet, bathing her from below like a strange spotlight and making her appear almost otherworldly.

Crux gaped as the intensity of the magic continued to rise as the little girl brandished her new key in front of her, her voice, though young and high in pitch ringing with authority and echoing through time and space as she turned the key and called, “Gate of The Great Dog, I open thee Canis Major!”

There familiar sound of a doorbell ringing echoed through the room along with a howl of triumph as an enormous dog manifested in a shower of golden sparks. The power levels in the room began to fade leaving behind the one who’d been called. Compared to the little girl who’d called him the dog was absolutely monstrous in size, twice her height at the shoulder, with massive jaws and a dense fur coat that made it seem even bigger than it was it looked like it could swallow the girl in one bite.

“Hello!” she greeted, and Crux had to admire her utter fearlessness as she stared up at the dog, not the least bit intimidated despite her own rather small size, “My name is Lucy Heartfilia, would you like to be my friend?”

Canis let out an enormous rumbling bark that seemed to shake the entire room, Crux grumbled to himself and rubbed at his poor ears, these young ones, always making such a fuss!

“Thank you!” Lucy cheered, apparently more than able to hear the affirmative despite the deafening sound, “When would you like to be called?”

Crux watched as the two worked out a contract, apparently Canis Major didn’t care when he was called, or for what. By the end of their terms somehow Canis Major had agreed to be called Padfoot, and the two of them were happily running around the room chasing and playing with each other, Lucy’s happy giggles and squeals and Canis Major’s playful barks filling the room with noise.

Glancing at his own summoner he saw Bero watching the pair with amazement and fondness, while Layla was looking at her daughter with unabashed, fierce pride. Looking at the pair Crux couldn’t help but smile. This newest Celestial Mage was already off to a fantastic start, he couldn’t wait to see where she would go from here. Her potential, especially since she’d started so young was practically limitless.

This in mind he sent a respectful nod to Bero, waved at Layla and allowed himself to fade back to the Celestial Realm. There he made his way to the palace eager to share the gossip, the news of the newest Celestial Mage, Lucy Heartfilia.

♈️ ♉️ ♊️ ♋️ ♌️ ♍️ ♎️ ♏️ ♐️ ♑️ ♒️ ♓️

Layla watched in contentment as her daughter ran around the extensive grounds with Canis Major, dubbed Padfoot by her precocious child, laughing, playing, and just acting like the child she was. For the longest time she’d been worried about Lucy.

As a baby she’d almost never cried, a quiet observant child, it had become obvious as she grew that Lucy was a prodigy of sorts. Jude had been positively thrilled at how precocious their daughter was, and was all set to try to start her in on learning, to get her tested and start pushing to see what the bounds of her intelligence were.

Layla however had immediately put her foot down. Lucy was a child, and so long as she didn’t ask or seem to bored or upset she wasn’t willing to push her and potentially take her childhood away from her. Jude had tried to argue for a while, but Layla had been firm in her position.

Despite her hopes though it seemed between her own serious nature and the numerous kidnapping attempts it had seemed like her daughter was never going to have the joyous childhood that Layla wanted for her. That was until that day when Lucy had expressed an interest in being a Celestial Mage like her.

Part of her compromise with Jude when it came to Lucy’s intelligence was that if she ever showed more than a passing interest in a subject it would be pursued, that in combination with her own quiet hopes that Lucy would continue on the Heartfilia legacy of Celestial Mages meant she’d leapt on the chance, and it seemed her daughter had picked an area where she would truly shine.

She hadn’t realized just how closely Lucy had been paying attention to the stories she’d been telling her since she was a baby until they’d begun trying to teach her everything she might need to know about Celestial magic after her unprecedented successful contract with Canis Major. Her baby had picked up and remembered even some of the smallest details of those stories, and was an eager student, soaking up everything she and Bero could teach her like a sponge.

These days, almost two years after Lucy’s first attempt at Celestial magic it wasn’t unusual to find her daughter curled up with a book, or interrogating Bero, or even Crux about magic. Normally this might have worried her, but when she wasn’t with Bero and Crux, or begging stories from Layla herself she was out with Padfoot, getting into mischief, running around, exploring, and acting more like a little girl than she had at any time during her first six years of life.

Padfoot, much to Jude’s well-hidden ire, had become a bit of a staple at their home. It had started with Lucy calling him for just half an hour a day, as that was as long as Lucy could hold the gate open. This was impressive in and of itself as Lucy had only been six at the time and by normal children’s standards shouldn’t have even been able to open the gate to a key as magic intensive as Canis Major was.

However it was obvious from the beginning that Lucy and Padfoot had a special kind of bond, and her little girl had gone out of her way to summon the dog spirit whenever possible. Slowly but surely a half an hour had become an hour, then two and three, by now Lucy could actually hold Canis Major’s gate open for a full twenty-four hours, and she was becoming more powerful by the day.

In addition with Lucy’s rising powers Padfoot had also gotten some additional abilities. He’d learned to talk, though he still preferred to bark, as that way only Lucy and Layla could really understand what he was saying, and he’d also gotten very good at sneaking around, likely from all their games of hide and seek. At times the enormous black dog seemed to meld and disappear into the shadows. More than once the pair had almost given her poor husband and the servants heart attacks as they seemed to appear out of nowhere. Despite this bit of mischief Layla couldn’t really bring herself to scold the pair, too relieved to see them running around having fun to risk it. 

Padfoot’s constant presence also gave them a bit of relief when it came to protecting Lucy from potential kidnappers. Her daughter never went anywhere without Padfoot himself or his key, which meant help was always at hand. Padfoot had proven himself viciously protective of her little girl, and had actually foiled three kidnapping attempts by himself already.

One of the potential kidnappers had actually run screaming out of their house instead of attempting to take her daughter. Not that she could blame them. Padfoot was absolutely huge, with the looks and build of a dog Padfoot had claimed was called a Caucasian Ovcharka, but twice the normal size he was actually big enough that she as an adult could probably ride him comfortably, something her daughter took advantage of all the time.

The two of them were inseparable best friends, and despite her husbands misgivings at times, Layla knew giving that key to her baby that day was the best decision she could’ve made. She couldn’t wait to see where she would go from here on out.

♈️ ♉️ ♊️ ♋️ ♌️ ♍️ ♎️ ♏️ ♐️ ♑️ ♒️ ♓️

Lucy let out a relieved sigh as she entered her room hurriedly kicking off her shoes and wriggling her way out of the pink party dress her mother had insisted she wear and pulling the pins from her hair as quickly as she could wincing as they pulled at her scalp and gently massaging her fingers over her head trying to relieve some of the ache.

Today was her eighth birthday and her father had decided she was old enough for a formal party. It had been one of the most painful experiences of this life, playing nice with her father’s business associates and their snobbish children, all of whom had eyes on her and were just waiting for her to put a toe out of line so they could tear her to verbal shreds behind her back. It was like swimming in a pond of bloodthirsty, starving, piranhas just waiting for the first hint of blood. 

Luckily she’d had her mother there to help shield her from some of the guests, and Padfoot, who had managed to merge himself quietly with her shadows so he could accompany her yet pass unnoticed by the guests who no doubt would’ve thrown a fit over his presence. Her past experience with politics in the year after the war before she’d died, and the gentle coaching she’d been receiving from her mother and the servants since the time she could walk in this life had stood her in good stead.

As far as she could tell she’d managed without any major social faux pas and comported herself appropriately. Still it was a relief to be away from it all finally. She’d been kept far later than most of the other children her age simply because as the hostess it was her duty to say goodbye to the guests. By the time she’d finally been allowed to retreat it was only her father’s business associates left, lingering to speak with one another about an upcoming trade agreement.

Pulling on the nightdress the maid had left out for her she flicked the lights off and plopped on to her large comfortable bed, only moving a bit so she could cuddle up to Padfoot’s side as he crawled out of her shadow and up on to the bed, throwing her arms around his shaggy neck and burying her face in his ruff.

Padfoot huffed in amusement, but allowed it, there wasn’t much the canine spirit and her best friend in this new life wouldn’t allow her, and she was eternally grateful for his never-ending patience with her.

“I’m never, ever doing that ever again,” she groaned to him miserably.

“You did well princess,” he told her in a soft grumbling bark, careful to keep his voice down, knowing it was late. Not bothering to point out to her that as the Heartfilia Heiress this was likely only the first of many such events in her future, for which she was grateful. She didn’t want to think about that just now.

“Thanks Padfoot,” she replied rolling off him so her back was on the bed and she was looking up at her ceiling. A smile curled her lips as she caught sight of it. The ceiling was one of her gifts last year from her parents, painted to look like a starry night sky embedded at the very center were several lacrima that when the main lights were out let off gentle silver light in the shape of Canis Major. Looking at it never failed to make her smile.

The sound of a door opening had her sitting up in surprise. Unlike her parents she didn’t have a personal servant, not because both parents didn’t think she needed one, both thought she did despite the fact that she insisted she could take care of herself and her rooms just fine. The lack of servant however meant that no one should be coming into her bedroom.

A quick glance at Padfoot showed that he too was glancing in the direction of the door, but considering he looked completely and utterly relaxed she figured there was no threat. She was proved correct when the shadowy figure by the entrance to her door moved closer and she could see the face of her visitor.

“That was quick,” her mother told her with an amused smile as she gently took a seat on the edge of the large bed, “I wasn’t expecting you to already have the lights out for bed. Are you tired dear?”

“A bit,” she admitted crawling over to where her mother was sitting and taking a seat next to you, “it was a long and exciting day, so even though it’s a bit early I thought I’d go to bed, that and I wanted to admire my ceiling for a while.”

“Exciting, but not all that enjoyable right dear?” she asked sympathetically, gently running her fingers through Lucy’s wavy blonde hair.

Lucy hesitated, not wanting to complain or seem ungrateful. Especially since she had received some incredibly expensive presents today. Most of it had been toys, dresses, and jewelry nothing she particularly wanted or cared for, but there had been a couple small magical items she’d thought were neat.

“It’s alright dear, it was more of a business party than a proper party for a little girl,” her mother assured her, and Lucy could detect the hint of disapproval in her tone that told her it had been entirely her father’s idea.

“Anyway, I came to see you because I didn’t dare give you your present earlier when you were opening your gifts from the guests, for fear you’d get too caught up in it but I wanted you to open it when it was still your birthday” her mother told her rummaging in the folds of her elaborate dress for a moment before removing a small neatly wrapped box with a pretty green ribbon on it.

Lucy accepted the gift eagerly curious about what her mother thought would be so intriguing to her that she’d ignore the rest of the presents from the other guests. Carefully undoing the ribbon and setting it aside, she peeled open the paper, revealing a thin rectangular jewelry box.

Slowly opening the lid, intent on savoring the gift she caught a glint of metal, and couldn’t help herself and flung the lid open, gasping in shock and delight. There resting on a small velvet pillow was a golden key. With shaking fingers she lifted the golden key from the box. The bow was engraved with a familiar crest, and was an elaborate filigree design, and the end of the blade was shaped like a heart.

“It’s one of the zodiac keys,” she breathed reverently, feeling the bed shift as Padfoot stood and plodded over to take a look.

“Do you know which one?” her mother prompted her, gentle and amused.

“Gate of the Maiden, Virgo!” she identified easily recognizing the familiar constellation.

“Are you really giving this to me?” she asked clutching the key close and staring up at her mother with awe.

“I am,” her mother assured her tenderly, “You have more than enough power to open it now, and I think Virgo will be a wonderful companion for you.”

“Oh thank you mama!” she cried, ecstatic wrapping her arms around her mother in an enthusiastic hug. Honestly she hadn’t given too much thought to more keys because she was more than happy with just Padfoot, but the idea of having another friend was an appealing one.

“You’re welcome,” her mother told her hugging her back just as tightly pressing a kiss to her hair, “Happy birthday my love.”

♈️ ♉️ ♊️ ♋️ ♌️ ♍️ ♎️ ♏️ ♐️ ♑️ ♒️ ♓️

Even though she’d decided to wait to try summoning Virgo her mother had ended up staying a while longer, kicking off her shoes and joining Lucy on the bed cuddling close, and telling her and Padfoot stories about the stars with Padfoot occasionally chiming in with commentary and funny anecdotes about the constellations that he knew personally. They’d talked well into the night until Lucy hadn’t been able to keep her eyes open, and then her mother had kissed her goodnight, and left her to cuddle next to Padfoot as she drifted off to sleep. Despite the awful party and the long day she counted it as one of the best birthdays she’d ever had.

The next day she woke around noon, having been awake extremely late the night before, and was just barely in time to join her amused parents for lunch. Padfoot had dismissed himself sometime in the night, leaving her with full magic stores, more than ready to summon Virgo. She’d barely been able to get anything down she’d been so excited to summon her new spirit.

Her father had wanted her to immediately start on thank you letters for the guests who’d attended the party and given her gifts, but her mother had luckily persuaded him that it could wait until tomorrow. Thus the moment she’d finished lunch her mother had guided her back to Bero so the two of them could watch while she summoned Virgo for the first time. Both of them had asked at different points if her father would like to join them and see too, but he’d waved them off, explaining that he unfortunately had a meeting to attend.

A little disappointed, but not enough to bring down her excitement seeing as her father was rarely around anyway she practically bounced as she waited for the adults to give her the go ahead to try.

“Alright Lucy,” Bero told her clear amusement in his tone, “All my important papers have been put away, and there’s nothing breakable around, so go ahead whenever you’re ready.”

Lucy flushed a bit, more than once when she was summoning Padfoot she’d been too close to Bero’s notes and sent them all flying forcing them to spend an hour or so cleaning them up and reorganizing them each time.

“Okay, here I go,” she warned them, turning away and concentrating on the task at hand. All the practice she’d had in the last two years meant that she was much better now at reaching her magic and it only took her a second to reach for it and pull it forth channeling it through the key as she called, “Gate of the Maiden, I open thee. Virgo!”

The familiar ring of a successful summon filled the room and the Celestial spirit appeared in a wave of gold and pink light. Looking her over Lucy noted she looked to be in her late teens to early twenties, not that what they looked like really mattered with spirits, most of whom were thousands of years old.

She had short pink hair, vibrant blue eyes, and was wearing a maid outfit complete with ruffled white head piece, white stockings and Maryjane shoes. Her strangest accessory was the heavy manacles around her wrists with dangling chains, one that made her appear a bit odd, but overall she looked kind.

“Greetings mistress,” Virgo told her with a polite bow, “How may I be of service?”

“There’s no need to call me mistress,” Lucy told her hurriedly, the title making her extremely uncomfortable, reminding her far too much of Voldemort, “My name’s Lucy, Virgo and I’d like to be your friend.”

“It’s nice to meet you princess,” Virgo replied calmly, and though she wasn’t exactly comfortable with that title either she couldn’t exactly protest, not when that was exactly what Padfoot called her.

“It’s nice to meet you too Virgo, would you like to make a contract with me?” she offered holding out her hand to shake.

“I would be honored princess,” Virgo told her grasping her hand with both of hers and not letting go. 

“Okay then when are you available?” she asked making sure she was ready to remember everything because she wouldn’t be able to take notes with Virgo seemingly unwilling to let go.

“I will answer your call at any time princess,” the maid-like spirit assured her fervently.

“Are you sure?” Lucy double checked surprised and a little worried, “I don’t want to impose on you.”

“Serving my mistress is never an imposition,” Virgo assured her vehemently.

“But Virgo I don’t want to be your mistress I want to be your friend, and please don’t call me that,” Lucy pleaded. This encounter was starting to remind her of something, though she couldn’t quite put her finger on it.

“Of course princess, my apologies,” Virgo told her immediately, “should I be punished?”

“No! No of course not Virgo I would never punish you for a simple mistake,” Lucy assured the spirit anxiously, the situation becoming more and more familiar with every word.

“Okay, so what would you like to be called for?” she tried again, “I know some spirits like to battle and some don’t, others like to perform certain tasks or use special abilities, so what would you like Virgo?”

“Call me for anything princess and I will answer,” Virgo assured her a slightly manic light in her eyes, “I live to serve.”

Seeing that light in her eyes it clicked for her where she’d seen this kind of behavior before. Virgo was acting just like Dobby had. She was acting like a house elf! Hell she’d even asked about punishment the same way a house elf might. 

The fact that she would act that way was a little unnerving for her, but at the same time it was also a bit reassuring. She knew how to handle house elves after all. She’d just have to be extremely clear, firm, and careful with Virgo. She could do this.

“Okay I can call you for anything,” she agreed with a gentle smile, it was always best to not let a house elf see any sign of distress on your face and for now she was going to assume Virgo was the same, “But is there anything in particular you _like_ to do?”

“I dig tunnels princess,” the spirit told her immediately, “And am somewhat gifted in combat and fully trained as a lady’s maid.”

“Well that will be useful then,” Lucy responded brightly, “My parents have both said that I’ll be in need of a maid soon to help me out in the mornings and evenings. If it’s alright with you I’ll summon you specifically at those times for help, and if I ever have need of help in between I won’t hesitate to call, is that agreeable to you?”

“Of course princess,” Virgo told her in the same devoted tone she’d been using since the beginning of their encounter, but this time she could see a hint of a smile on the spirit’s lips so she counted it as a job well done.

♈️ ♉️ ♊️ ♋️ ♌️ ♍️ ♎️ ♏️ ♐️ ♑️ ♒️ ♓️

Virgo hummed happily to herself as she carefully pinned one of her newest designs around her beloved princess to get the best fit she possibly could. Honestly she hadn’t been sure what to think when she suddenly found her key in the hands of a young child. She’d at first wondered if she had perhaps angered her previous Master enough to have him get rid of her, until the child had introduced herself.

Lucy Heartfilia, Layla Heartfilia’s daughter and only child. Suddenly it made sense why her old Master would have handed her over. Everyone in the spirit world knew of the Heartfilia, how could they not when the Heartfilia had been the first to ever contract with them. However since then the power and ability of the Heartfilia line had slowly but surely been waning and the spirits had despaired. While there were now other Celestial Spirit summoners out there, all far off branches of the original Heartfilia line, to lose the main branch would still have been a tragedy.

Hopes had risen with Layla Heartfilia who, for the first time in centuries had not only been able to contract three of the zodiac spirits, but who’d been able to hold and sustain all three gates at once. However then she’d fallen ill and hopes had fallen when she gave up her keys to trusted comrades retiring to raise her family.

There had been some quiet whispers about Layla’s daughter in recent years, but Virgo had hardly paid them any attention. After all best not to get ones hopes up, only to have them crushed again. Besides if anyone was going to contract with the newest Heartfilia, it would be the same three zodiac as before.

Thus she had been more than a little shocked to find herself contracted to Lucy Heartfilia as her first and only zodiac key and her second key overall at the tender age of eight. She could hardly believe her luck. Lucy was an extremely kind and loving mistress and extraordinarily considerate of her spirits.

They’d had a couple bumps at first, mostly because it had taken some time for Virgo to realize her mistress wanted her to be more outspoken about herself and her wants and needs, but they’d eventually gotten through those.

The only other problem they’d had was between her and Canis Major, her only other key and first official companion. The two of them had butted heads on more than one occasion vying for her mistress’ attention. However they’d quickly noticed that their spats were upsetting to the young princess and so had quickly worked out a truce of sorts. It helped that now, six months in Lucy could call out both of them at the same time, an extremely impressive feat considering her young age.

She hummed happily to herself as she stepped back and admired her handiwork. Her young mistress was so cute, and so kind for allowing her the liberty of dressing her person. She had even consented on more than one occasion to wear some of Virgo’s own designs, had at times even requested them! Never had she been so flattered, she’d nearly fainted from the sheer joy of it.

Nodding in approval she stepped forward and carefully removed the garment from her young mistress, taking extra care not to poke her with the pins, “It will be ready for you by tomorrow.”

“Thanks Virgo,” her young mistress told her with a sweet smile, “I really appreciate you doing this for me so last minute. I really should have probably allowed the tailor to do it, but she kept purposefully pricking me with the pins every time I fidgeted and I couldn’t stand her attitude.”

“Of course princess, anytime,” Virgo assured her calmly though inside she was seething, how dare anyone purposely bring pain to her mistress? Glancing over at the dog spirit she saw he had raised his head and was looking straight at her.

She raised an accusing brow at him, because no doubt he had been present during the meeting with said tailor, he was hardly ever separated from her side, thus it had been his responsibility to protect their mistress. The spirit gave her the doggy equivalent of a smirk and a wink outside of their mistress’ sight and she settled. Clearly the other spirit had exacted retribution of some sort for now, so for now she would be satisfied. However if she ever met said tailor she would be sure to express her displeasure with her.

“If that is all princess I will take this and get it finished?” she inquired, reluctant to leave her side but knowing it was necessary in order to get the dress done for tomorrow.

“Of course, thank you again Virgo,” her princess told her sweetly. Her mistress was so good, so kind.

“My pleasure princess,” she bowed and let herself disappear into the spirit world.

Returning was a bit of a trial these days, not only because she would prefer to remain by the side of her mistress, but because word of her new contract to the young Heartfilia heiress had gotten out, and lately every time she returned home other spirits bombarded her, asking her all sorts of questions.

This time however it seemed she was in luck. No one was lurking around her usual area and she could get to work immediately on the dress. Humming happily to herself, she took a seat and pulled out a needle and thread to begin her work only to feel a chill go down her back.

She stiffened in surprise and glanced around warily. There were very few spirits in the Celestial Realm who could give her that feeling, especially these days with her key in the hands of a Celestial Spirit Mage whose extraordinary power was growing stronger every day, and in turn increasing her own power. 

Listing them out she thought maybe a small handful of the other zodiacs who had older more experienced summoners, the Celestial Spirit King himself, and of course _them_ the ones who held the crystal keys. However considering they hadn’t been seen now for over a century even inside the Celestial Realm…

She lost her train of thought as she caught sight of her visitor, her eyes widening in surprise at the sight of him, his gaze glowing ominously in the darkness despite the light cast by the Celestial lacrima around. Only her sharp reflexes kept her mistress’ dress from falling to the ground as she gaped at him. This hadn’t been what she had expected not at all.

“Virgo, tell me about your mistress,” he ordered, his voice like thunder.

Well, that certainly explained why there weren’t other spirits around, she noted wryly as she stared up at him. He’d scared them all off.

“What do you want to know?”

♈️ ♉️ ♊️ ♋️ ♌️ ♍️ ♎️ ♏️ ♐️ ♑️ ♒️ ♓️

Lucy slowly came back to consciousness in waves. Her head ached fiercely and her eyelids felt impossibly heavy. She groaned her hand coming up to cradle her head as she attempted to push herself into a sitting position. Her stomach lurched uncomfortably at the movement, but she managed to hold back her nausea as she blinked groggily at her surroundings trying to figure out where she was.

It was immediately apparent that she wasn’t anywhere she recognized and likely wasn’t on Heartfilia grounds anymore. She was in some kind of cell, from the dampness in the air and the packed dirt under her likely one underground.

Glancing down at herself she noted she was still in the party dress Virgo had made for her, with its white bodice, full ruffled pink skirt, and pink roses at the collar. It was dirty now though, stained with dirt, and torn like it had caught on something. She’d also apparently lost one of her silk gloves at some point and both of her low heeled pink shoes. The only accessory it seemed she’d managed to keep was the small tiara in her hair, not that, that was surprising considering between the two of them she and Virgo had all but superglued the thing to her hair, Virgo murmuring something strange about crabs the entire time.

A clanking sound, the sound of her door unlocking brought her back to the situation at hand and she hurriedly reached for the secret pocket that Virgo sewed into all her dresses to safely store her key ring as the door swung open only to find they were gone. The pocket was empty.

“Looking for these?” a smug male voice asked and she glanced up, wincing slightly against the glare of light to see a hand holding out her keyring, with Virgo and Padfoot’s keys clearly visible on the ring and jingling them at her tauntingly.

She snarled at him and lunged, diving for the keys… She coughed in agony and surprise as a knee caught her in the chest and sent her hurtling back against the wall of her cell, where she slumped, wheezing as she tried to get her breath back, a hand clutching her aching ribs.

“Now, now is that anyway for the Heartfilia heiress to behave?” the man asked his voice gentle and almost kind in a way that sent chills down her spine. No one should be able to speak so soothingly after being so violent with a young child, no one decent anyway.

“Who are you?” she demanded angrily, “What do you want from me?”

“Me? How rude, to think you’ve already forgotten me, and we were introduced just last night!” the man told her, sounding far too amused for her liking, “And after I was kind enough to fetch you a drink and everything!”

Lucy snarled as the memory came back to her. Her father had decided to host another party at their home, and she’d been forced to attend, her father wanting to show her off to all their business associates. She’d gone reluctantly and had been doing her best to make polite conversation when the adults engaged her, which was surprisingly often considering she was one of the few children at the party and certainly the only one under the age of twelve.

The other children hadn’t wanted anything to do with her, not that she was surprised. After all their mindsets were hardly similar and considering how much her father was bragging about her and the other adults were praising her, it wasn’t surprising that they would be jealous and uncomfortable. She would be too in a situation like that, being shown up by someone several years younger than her, though she liked to think she would at least try to move past that and be kind.

She’d been talking so much that her throat had started to hurt, but she’d been unable to excuse herself without seeming rude. To her surprise and relief one of her father’s business associates, a rather meek but kind man that she thought was named Ken had brought her a glass of juice. 

She’d taken it gratefully, and while it had tasted a bit off she wasn’t about to complain about the one true smidge of kindness she’d been shown at this awful party. Now she wished she’d paid more attention and gotten her own drink no matter how rude it might have seemed, “You drugged me!”

“Ah, well it was necessary, how else was I going to get you away without you putting up a fuss and calling on those pesky little beasts of yours?” he asked reasonably.

“They’re not beasts they’re my friends, so give them back” she snarled at him, pushing herself up and launching herself at her keys, only to get whipped across the face with them, the metal teeth of Padfoot’s key leaving a digging open the skin of her cheek, and a swift follow up punch to the back of her head forcing her to the ground and a heel ground into her back keeping her there.

“That’s enough of that, silly girl,” the man told her, his voice still deceptively calm, “There’s no need for you to be putting up so much fuss, so long as your parents bring me what I desire in the next few hours you will be returned to them, admittedly in less than perfect condition but alive nonetheless. So be a good girl, and wait okay?”

Lucy wanted to spit out a furious retort but was stopped by a swift kick to her ribs that sent her tumbling back into the depths of her cell. She cried out in surprise and pain as something cracked and she hit the wall again. Her vision swam with the pain and it took her a second to reorient herself, but that second was a second too long because even as she tumbled to her feet and tried to make a grab for her keys once more Ken stepped back and pulled the door to her cell closed with a resounding clang as it slid into place.

She hit the door with a thud, grabbing hold of the bars and stretching her arms through desperately trying to grab hold of him and stop him leaving with her keys, but she couldn’t get there in time, and she watched as he walked off down the hall and out of her reach.

She slumped holding on to the bars as best she could for support, trying not to cry. Sometimes being in a body of a child meant that a child’s instincts came to the forefront and this seemed to be one of those times. Separated from her parents and her keys, her companions, woozy, hurt and bleeding, all she wanted to do was cry.

However she knew despite those childish instincts crying would get her nothing, she’d learned that a long, long time ago. She needed to do something, anything to get back her keys and get home. There was no way she was going to just sit here and hope her parents turned over whatever it was he wanted.

Oh she had no doubts they’d do their best, they loved her and she was sure they’d do anything to save her. However she didn’t trust the man to give her back, that kind of cold cruelty didn’t lend itself to trustworthiness, and besides he’d said he’d give _her_ back he hadn’t said anything about her keys, and she sure as hell wasn’t leaving without them.

But what could she do? Glancing around she noted the walls were all hard-packed dirt, and rock there was no way she’d be able to get through them, not without tools of any sort at her disposal. The cage to her door was a series of iron vertical bars spaced too thinly for her body to fit through. She was only just barely able to get an arm out through one of the slats, no way would her entire body fit.

She grimaced, if only she had Virgo or Padfoot’s key either one would’ve been able to dig her out of here in an instant. Her hands clenched in anger at her own impotence, her eyes darting desperately around the cell for any sort of viable escape route, but the cell was as simple, empty and impenetrable as ever.

Taking a deep breath to stave off anxious tears she tried to think if there was anything she could do, or anything she might have that might be of use. Glancing down at herself she grimaced at the state of her dress, her hands automatically to the pocket that should’ve held her keys. It was just as empty as before, however as she pulled her hand out again she winced in surprise as her fingers caught on something.

Curious she pulled her skirt around so she could look at the pocket better, and was surprised to see a glint of metal in the pink fabric. Realization struck and with shaking hands she pulled out the two long pins that had been carefully tucked into place by a worried Virgo who thought her hair situation precarious enough that she might need the extra pins. To others said pins might’ve been useless, but others hadn’t spent several summers with the Weasley twins and Sirius, all eager to teach her all kinds of mischief making tricks, including how to pick locks with simple metal pins.

She nearly cried in shock and relief as she scurried toward the locked cell door, carefully examining the lock and realizing it was one she should be fully capable of opening. It took some maneuvering, and she was suddenly immensely grateful to be small otherwise her arms would never have fit through the bars so she could get her hands into position, but she was able to reach.

Working the metal into the lock the way she’d been taught was nervous work. She didn’t know when Ken or someone else might be by to check on her, so she had to keep a close ear out for the sound of footsteps while also trying to listen to the sounds of the lock to get her a better feel for what she needed to do to pop it open. Luckily it seemed no one was going to bother to check on her, and what seemed like an eternity later the lock popped open with a soft _click_.

She let out a shaky breath of relief as the door swung open and she slipped out into the corridor. It was fairly dark so she did her best to stick to the shadows, not sure where exactly she was going but knowing that time was of the essence. Any moment someone could stumble on her or her empty cell. She had no idea if Ken was the only one who’d kidnapped her or if there were others.

Even if it was just Ken he’d already proved to her that without her keys she was severely outmatched. She’d need the element of surprise if she was to have any sort of chance of getting her keys back and beating him.

Her fingers clenched angrily. She hated this, she hated being so helpless. It was like being without a wand again, only worse because she couldn’t even use the minor wandless magic she’d known before to help out, and she didn’t have any of her other magical objects like the invisibility cloak, marauder’s map or the twin’s prank items to help her out. If she got out of this mess she swore to herself she’d find a way to change that. No way was she going to be this helpless ever again.

Gritting her teeth in determination she carefully made her way down the hall, keeping the years of practice of sneaking around Hogwarts halls in mind, stepping lightly and keeping her ears pricked for any sort of sound. The corridor she was in had several other cells in it, but all of them seemed to be empty, and at the end of the corridor was a stairway that wound upwards. The door led to a much nicer hallway, clearly someone’s home.

Lucy frowned as she glanced around, noting that with the door closed there was no way anyone would even guess that just down the stairs was a prison. It fed her suspicions that Ken, if that really was his name, wasn’t a man to be trusted. After all good men generally didn’t keep dungeons in their basements, and some of the things she’d seen in the cells she’d passed had hinted at former occupancy.

Shaking that away and refocusing on her mission she began to sneak as carefully as she could down the hallways. Opening the doors was a risk, but one she had to take if she was going to retrieve her keys. Now that she was above ground she could tell it was night time, which hopefully meant there wouldn’t be many people around.

It was a fairly opulent house so it made sense that there would probably still be servants around somewhere even though it was night, that’s the way it worked at her home anyway. The sound of shuffling footsteps had her darting through one of the doors, pressing her back to the wall and peeking out through the gap.

It was just as well. There were two people walking down the hall, Ken, and a dark haired man she didn’t recognize. With every step she could hear a soft jingling sound, and her eyes immediately zoned in on the keyring attached not to Ken’s belt but to the dark haired mans.

Her face twisted in a snarl of fury to see the man wearing _her_ keys as if they belonged to him. The two of them were chatting about something murmuring in low tones, but she couldn’t hear a word they were saying, too focused on her keys. This was the moment, she had the element of surprise, she could do this.

Flinging open the door she dashed forward, diving at the startled dark haired man, both of them were too surprised to respond and her fingers closed around the keys she instinctively knew belonged to her. The sharp metal dug into her palm she refused to let go as her momentum tore them free from the belt of the dark haired man.

She hit the ground hard rolling a ways away from the two men, her ribs, arms and palms aching, but triumphant as she clutched the two keys that belonged to her friends in her hand.

“Well, that was unexpected,” Ken mused aloud. His voice was still pleasant but his eyes were like ice, “So it seems you’ve escaped somehow. You’re more resourceful than I expected Miss Heartfilia.”

Lucy didn’t bother to say anything, instead clambering painfully to her feet and taking off down the hall. This was no time for heroics, she’d gotten her keys, now all she had to do was escape and get home, and someone else would take care of the rest.

The two men were shouting behind her, but she tuned them out that is until she heard, “Gate of Coma Berenices I open thee! Bernice’s Hair!”

She jolted with surprise and turned to look just in time as golden lengths of rope lashed out toward her. She lurched to the side just in time to avoid most but not fast enough to avoid them all, several got tangled in her skirt but one managed to wrap around her ankle. She felt a sharp vicious tug, and the resounding _crack_ of her ankle seemed to echo around the hall as she fell face forward skidding across the floor, her ankle in agony and her ribs screaming in protest at the pressure as she bounced and rolled across the hardwood floor, skidding to a stop several feet away.

Only long experience kept her breathing through the pain despite the blackness that danced on the edge of her vision. She hadn’t felt pain like this at all yet in this life, and it was just as excruciating as she remembered. However it was nowhere near the level of the cruciatus curse, or basilisk venom, just because this body was young didn’t mean she was going to let this beat her.

Pushing herself up on her forearms she attempted to get her feet back under her and keep running only for shooting waves of agony to race up her leg and cause her to collapse again. She almost went face first to the floor, only to find herself lifted into a gentle princess hold.

“Good evening princess,” Virgo greeted gently, “Shall we get out of here?”

“Virgo? H-how?” she asked dazed as her spirit took off down the hall, far faster than she had managed.

“When my princess grows in magic power I too grow in power, recently you have grown strong enough that so long as my key is in your possession I can bring myself through the gate, without aid,” Virgo explained affectionately.

“I hadn’t realized that was possible,” she murmured still shocked, but also reassured.

“I would’ve come sooner,” Virgo explained with a slight frown, “But I wasn’t sure you were in trouble until the keys got taken away and then I couldn’t. Punishment princess?”

“No Virgo no punishment,” she assured her firmly, “Thank you for coming for me.”

“Always princess,” Virgo told her affectionately.

The two of them made it out of the house, Virgo, at her urging taking a leap through one of the ground floor windows, but weren’t able to make it more than a few steps before something hit Virgo’s back and the two of them went flying. Even cradled protectively against Virgo’s chest it was a painful landing, but even worse was Virgo’s gasp of pain.

Looking at her friend it was obvious what had hit them. Two light grey dogs, the size of greyhounds, one of which had probably hit Virgo and darted ahead of them blocking their escape and the other which was latched on to her spirit’s leg. Spirits she found then, didn’t bleed red the way humans did, but instead oozed a strange glowing ichor, even still it was very obviously painful for her friend, and she wasn’t about to stand for it.

“Gate of The Great Dog, I open thee. Canis Major!” she called grasping her silver key in a motion that had become extremely familiar to her and bringing forth her oldest companion.

Padfoot appeared with a furious howl that would’ve sent chills down her spine if she hadn’t known for a fact that he would never hurt her. It became clear very quickly who was the more powerful canine spirit, as he practically tore through the two obviously frightened dogs. Even knowing they couldn’t be killed and would recover easily enough in the spirit world Lucy still winced at the absolute carnage. 

A part of her felt bad for them, after all it wasn’t their fault their master was helping the one who’d kidnapped her, on the other hand another part was vindictively satisfied. They’d hurt Virgo, Virgo her devoted and loving friend, and so deserved what they’d got.

“Well that’s more impressive than I thought an eight-year-old could manage,” the man with Ken noted, both men having caught up to them while they struggled with the dogs, “You didn’t mention she was able to hold two gates open at once.”

“Like I could’ve known,” Ken retorted flatly, “All my men reported really was on that vicious, flea-bitten mutt of hers. Just get her back Greer”

Said flea bitten mutt let out a dangerous snarl, placing himself firmly between them and her, clearly aware of the situation.

“I suppose it doesn’t matter all that much,” the dark haired man, whose name was apparently Greer replied with a mocking smile on his lips, “She’s just a little girl after all.”

“Get her out of here,” Padfoot prompted, and Lucy was surprised to hear an anxious note in his normally confident voice, “hurry!”

“Of course,” Virgo scooped her up again and the two of them were off before she could speak a word of protest.

“But Padfoot!” she protested twisting around in Virgo’s arms trying to see behind them, “We can’t just abandon him!”

“We’re not abandoning him princess, you have our keys” Virgo soothed, though she could hear a note of strain in her normally level voice, “He’s just going to keep them from coming after us until we can get you to safety, and even if he gets in trouble he can always return safely to the Spirit World and come back to you. He cannot be killed after all, or injured beyond what rest can’t fix.”

“But!” she tried again.

“But nothing princess,” Virgo told her the most firm she’d ever been with her, ever, “You are the Mage, the contract holder. We cannot exist here without you, you don’t fix nearly as easily as we do, and you’re not in any sort of condition to be fighting back, that makes getting you out of here and to safety the priority.”

Lucy bit her lip unhappily. She wanted to protest more, but she couldn’t Virgo was right. In this state there was nothing she could do. Hell even before she’d been so roughed up she’d barely been able to do anything other than be knocked around.

A strange rustling sound broke into her thoughts, and she twisted to look, and only barely managed to choke out, “Virgo look out!”

The spirit heeded the warning and dived to the side, just in time to avoid the large tail that swept the place that she had been before. Lucy stared, up and up and _up_ meeting a pair of vermillion eyes that practically glowed. Taking in the enormous form she had a terrible sense of Déjà vu. It was like the basilisk all over again, though she did take a moment to be thankful it didn’t seem to have a deadly stare, otherwise she would’ve been dead already.

The snake spirit, and she had to assume it was a spirit of some sort, because she couldn’t imagine a creature quite like this occurring naturally in this world, was absolutely enormous and looked to be some kind of hybrid between snake and machine, it’s upper half composed of enormous dark scales, while the lower half was made of overlapping metal plates. Its lower jaw was made completely of metal, while the upper was organic with several dangerous looking fangs and a large tongue.

Searching her mind frantically for what constellation this particular spirit could be tied to, but either answer seemed completely and utterly ridiculous. Both were legendary keys, one the crystal key Hydra, The Water Snake and the other, the other the legendary golden key Ophiuchus, The Snake Charmer, it was the thirteenth “golden” key an unofficial member of the zodiac, called The Black Key for the winding black snake around the key’s blade.

The snake coiled, and lunged, darting at Virgo who only just managed to dodge out of the way. It lunged again and again, hissing dangerously as it hit digging enormous trenches in the earth with each strike. 

Virgo appeared to be holding her own, lashing out with the chains attached to her manacles and digging holes under and around the large beast until a large tail whipped around out of nowhere catching her midair and sending her flying.

The snake, that she was almost sure now was Ophiuchus drew back to lunge, and she could see already that Virgo wasn’t going to be able to get out of the way this time.

♈️ ♉️ ♊️ ♋️ ♌️ ♍️ ♎️ ♏️ ♐️ ♑️ ♒️ ♓️

“Princess no!”

Ophiuchus jerked to a halt, eying the young woman in front of him curiously. He had orders not to kill the girl, apparently she was needed alive, at least for now. He could smell blood in the air, her blood, the child was clearly injured and struggling to stand, but still her eyes were steady and unwavering, her arms spread wide her small body placed firmly in front of his fellow spirit in a stance that was clearly meant to protect. How curious.

It seemed the rumors really were true, the new Heartfilia heiress really did love her keys, apparently enough to shield one with her own body, despite the fact that she had to know nothing was truly fatal to Celestial Spirits. They could be injured of course, hurt, tortured even, but they absolutely couldn’t be killed, and there was almost nothing they couldn’t heal from. Which meant she was risking her life to spare the spirit pain. It was… odd to say the least.

It made him pause and glance at Virgo who was on her feet again, ready to launch herself to the defense of her keyholder her eyes burning with a combination of fear for the girl, and a fierce determination to do anything in her power to protect her. It was just as she’d said when he’d confronted her in the Spirit World, Virgo loved her ‘little mistress’ and would do whatever was asked, and more for her, and it appeared her devotion was returned.

How curious. The Heartfilia Main Branch had been known for that kindness, for their persistence and instinctual desire to treat their Keys as equals, beloved partners and family members. He himself had never had the rumored pleasure of being contracted to one, and never particularly desired one either, content to be left alone or to be occasionally wielded in battle by someone strong or desperate enough to summon him.

He had a well-earned reputation for refusing to contract with the human who summoned him, and eating them instead, which prevented most from even attempting it. His current contract holder Greer, didn’t technically have a contract with him just yet, but had been pressured into using his key by his own master to catch the escaping girl.

The only reason he’d agreed rather than just eating both Greer and his master is because he’d scented Virgo nearby, which meant her Keyholder was the kidnapped girl. It was quite the coincidence, especially since it was so soon after he’d confronted the other Spirit about her mistress, and he’d been curious. He’d wanted to meet the little girl Virgo spoke so fondly of.

Admittedly throughout all his centuries on the outskirts of the zodiac he’d realized Virgo tended to never speak badly of any of her ‘masters’ it just wasn’t in her nature to protest, not even when she was treated poorly. However she did tend to get her revenge in petty ways, shortened hems, shoddy stich work, lukewarm tea, and the like, and her words about them, even words of praise were mild or backhanded.

Her description of little Lucy Heartfilia though, was nothing like that, even with some of her other masters who were good she remained calm and bland, whereas with this one she’d practically gushed, clear affection and adoration in every word, which had only added fuel to the fire that was his curiosity.

Looking at her now, trembling with the effort of keeping on her feet, her once beautiful dress torn and covered in mud and blood, but her green eyes defiant glowing with strength of will, her chin tilted stubbornly upwards refusing to bend or break. It made him even more curious about the strange child, who acted like no child he’d ever heard of. 

It also caused him to feel a bit of reluctant admiration, after all even grown men tended to cower before him whereas she stood without flinch or waver. He could taste her fear, like all humans acrid on his tongue, and yet it was tempered by something else, something he couldn’t put a name to that only pushed his curiosity to new heights.

He found himself reluctant to push her, for all he knew he could break her small, fragile body in an instant and there would be nothing she or Virgo could do to stop him. After all Virgo wasn’t really built for attack or defense, though she could do a bit of both, no Virgo was meant for escape, escape which probably would’ve worked on almost any other zodiac key but him, since he was just as comfortable burrowing into the ground as she was and would be able to follow her easily.

His long drawn out moment of study was apparently enough to give her other key time to catch up. Canis Major skidded to a stop in front of him, placing himself firmly between him and her. The Silver Key was one of the stronger ones, and was meant for both tracking and battle, but compared to him? The key didn’t stand a chance and doubtless knew it, yet it seemed he was determined to try.

Unsurprising, the loyalty of Canis Major, once said loyalty was won was unshakable and fierce. The constellation willing to do anything it took to protect his key holder. If the girl had won the loyalty of Virgo, then it was no surprise she had Canis Major’s as well.

“What are you waiting for! Finish the dog and grab her Ophiuchus!” the shout interrupted his thoughts, apparently the dog wasn’t the only one who’d caught up to them, and his initial compliance had apparently made the one who had current possession of his key rather cocky, stupidly so. He wasn’t under contract after all, and had no obligation to obey or remain benevolent toward him.

Instead he simply cocked his head at the man, he’d been on the fence about grabbing the girl in the first place, as he’d only obeyed the initial order to appease his curiosity. That the man thought he could order him into it and with such an arrogant tone as well simply made up his mind for him.

Admittedly he was still curious about the girl, but he didn’t think grabbing her would assuage his curiosity, he’d have to try something else for that, but in the meantime he wasn’t sure what he wanted to do about the wizard Greer.

On one hand, the man was an annoying fool who deserved to be eaten for thinking he could order him around. On the other hand, his magic was what was sustaining his existence in this world, so if he ate him he’d be sent away back to the Spirit World. Normally this wasn’t an issue, but in this case it was, because the curious girl was in this world and he wouldn’t have access to study her if he went back. A rather frustrating conundrum considering he wanted to just eat the stupid human male and be done with it.

“O-Ophiuchus hurry up! They’re escaping!” the man tried again, although his tone had lost its haughty tone, and now shook with nerves. Apparently, he did at least possess enough self-preservation to realize that if he decided he wanted the stupid mage dead he’d be dead, and that he was pushing his luck.

Still his words did bring attention back to the group, who were indeed making a run for it, the girl once more cradled in Virgo’s arms, and Canis Major running alongside. That certainly wouldn’t do.

He took off after them, catching up in a matter of moments, and this time made sure to encircle them within his bulk, to ensure he’d notice any further escape attempts. Canis Major was growling at him again, and Virgo gently set her precious burden down on the grass to free her arms clearly ready to fight once more.

“You are a very curious little two-legger,” he mused aloud watching the grouping but making no further aggressive moves.

“I’m not so curious, just an average girl with remarkable friends,” the girl told him. Which normally wouldn’t be remarkable, Celestial Mages always seemed to be able to understand Spirits even if they couldn’t speak the human tongue. Except she hadn’t spoken the human tongue to him, she’d _hissed_ at him, spoke back in his own language! He’d never realized such was even possible, and judging from the looks on the faces of her two Keys they hadn’t realized either.

“How intriguing, little miss I think you might just be the most curious creature I’ve ever met,” he informed her, “Tell me how did you come to speak such a language?”

“Language?” she repeated obviously confused for a minute before her eyes lit with surprise and recognition. 

The look on her face one of surprise and then resigned exasperation only increased his intrigue. He’d been tossing the idea around since she’d first stared him down, trying desperately to protect Virgo from further injury, but this latest intriguing facet of Lucy Heartfilia sealed the deal for him.

“Form a contract with me,” he ordered firmly. It was the only way, the only possible way he could get the answers he was seeking, and it would allow him to judge for himself what kind of person the Heartfilia heiress was.

“A contract?” the girl repeated evidently baffled. She wasn’t the only one, both Virgo and Canis Major were eying him strangely, clearly unsure what to think.

“Yes a contract,” he replied, unsure whether to be amused or annoyed by her wide-eyed expression.

“But I don’t have your key,” she pointed out hesitantly.

“Easily remedied,” he informed her baring his fangs in a way that he’d seen blooded men faint in fear of, and it was, not only that but it solved his problem of wanting to eat the man for his sheer gall rather nicely.

She clearly read his intentions, and to her credit didn’t flinch from it, though she did frown, “I’m not sure anyone would allow me to keep key or contract if you killed the previous holder, to most I’m only a little girl and they’ll think you’d be a threat to both them and to me and would take you away ‘for my own good.’”

“And you couldn’t keep hold of it?” he asked extremely unimpressed.

“I could try,” she told him, still frowning, “But I’m young still, and haven’t grown into my abilities in full yet. There are numerous mages out there stronger than me that I wouldn’t be able to stop no matter how I tried.”

He tilted his head in thought. She was correct, she was only a hatchling, a hatchling with near limitless potential but a hatchling nonetheless. No matter how remarkable it wouldn’t be fair of him to assume her as capable as an adult just yet, normally he wasn’t altogether all that bothered with such things, but with a holder he was contracted to it was different. He, for all his aggression, and general apathy and dislike of most humans did pride himself on his word and honor. With his contracted Key Holders he was always fair, always.

“What do you suggest then?” he asked, curious as to what her answer might be.

She looked startled to be asked but recovered quickly, “Can you knock him unconscious instead? I can take the key from him after.”

“And if I do this for you, will you swear to create a contract with me after?” he prompted. He knew that Celestial Mages, the good ones at least, always, _always_ kept their word once given as a matter of both pride and honor, and was the thing he respected most about them.

“I will so swear,” she promised firmly, meeting his gaze again, eyes burning bright.

He nodded and turned back to look outside his coils and found both Greer and the current possessor of his key had arrived and were waiting. He noted with interest that because she’d been speaking his language neither of them had any clue of the deal that had just been struck.

“Good work Ophiuchus!” Now let us in,” the man, Greer ordered, apparently having regained his bravado after he’d seemingly followed his order. Not for long. He shifted to make it look like he was obeying, but chose instead to swing his tail around to bring down hard on his head, and if he managed to take out the fool’s master along with him as both a favor and act of goodwill for his new Contracted Key Holder, well that was his business.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As promised from the Muse's Playground it's now its own story! Look for the next chapter later in the week! I hope you all will enjoy this and some of the things to come. Thanks so much to everyone who commented how much they liked this story in the Muse's Playground, it's thanks to you that it's being continued!


	2. Chapter 2

Lucy stared down at the keys in her hand trying to decide what to do with them. They were the keys recovered from the man Greer, not including Ophiuchus whose key was attached firmly to her keyring right alongside Virgo’s. She’d contracted him the same night she’d been kidnapped, knowing it would be best to do it as quickly as possible to not only keep her promise to the Snake Bearer but also to ensure no one would try to take him for themselves and prevent her from keeping said promise.

Their contract was fairly straightforward, though it had taken some negotiating. At first Ophiuchus had only wanted to be brought out for battle, as he was a rather bloodthirsty creature, which for most key holders she knew would be perfectly acceptable. However, she wasn’t ‘most keyholders’ and she wanted all her Contracted Keys to also be her friends, which was why she’d decided to negotiate, trying to bribe him with things she knew snakes liked.

In the end he’d agreed he could be called at other times, but only once a week, only if it was sunny and warm, and only if she agreed to talk to him. Apparently for whatever reason, likely the fact that she spoke Parseltongue, the snake found her absolutely fascinating.

And hadn’t that been a shock? She’d had absolutely no clue she’d retained such an ability, and she got the feeling that Death had included it as a bit of a prank. She hoped he was prepared for her retribution. Yes, he was a deity, but she was the daughter of a Marauder and wasn’t about to let such a challenge go unanswered. Sure, it would take a while, hopefully a good long while as she wasn’t planning to die anytime soon, and she couldn’t reach him unless she did, but revenge was a dish best served cold, and hers would be positively icy.

The revelation of her ability had also forced her to come clean about her past life to both Virgo and Padfoot. She hadn’t been able to bring herself to lie, when they’d asked, not to her best and most beloved friends. The two had listened very patiently, comforting her through the difficult parts, and when it was all over had accepted her with ready affection. It had brought tears to her eyes, that they could still love and accept her despite everything. She vowed then and there she would make sure they knew how loved and cherished they were to her every day for the rest of her life.

Luckily, they also had understood that because of the body she was in she was still sometimes susceptible to childish emotions and whims. It didn’t bother them a bit, Padfoot pointing out that they’d both been happy to cater to said whims, and to play with her themselves not only because they loved her but because they enjoyed it too, and they were both thousands of years old, which had made her feel much better about her moments of immaturity.

Neither minded the nightmares, the nights she’d wake up trembling and latch onto the two of them to reassure herself of their presence. Honestly, she felt a little ridiculous about it, she’d been through far more traumatic things than this in her past life, her kidnapping was a blip on the radar in comparison. Luckily the two of them were very good about talking her through the aftermath and assuring her there was nothing wrong with her fears. After all she might have experienced a lot in her last life, but had been extremely sheltered in this one.

It was true enough, and honestly, she felt both she and they were handling things far better than her parents were. The fact of the matter was she’d never been all that close to Jude who rarely ever spent time with her, focusing all his time and attention on the family business. Only really bothering with her on her birthday or important holidays.

What little there was of her relationship had completely shattered when she’d gotten back from her kidnapping, as the first thing he’d tried to do was confiscate her keys insisting they were the reason she’d been in trouble and hurt in the first place. He told her if she’d just stayed put and been good she would’ve been ransomed back to them and not been hurt at all, which was not only blatantly untrue but infuriating. He also refused to listen to a word she said about how his business associate probably would’ve just killed her, in fact he hadn’t even believed it was one of his business associates until one of the Knights of Fiore, the group that had found her after her escape and brought her home, backed her up. Even then he insisted it was all her Keys fault as they hadn’t protected her and only put her in more danger. It didn’t help that she’d been attacked by several other Keys by a fellow Celestial Mage.

Luckily her mother, her wonderful loving parent who’d doted on her since birth, had furiously refused to allow it, stating the Keys were Lucy’s contracted to her and her alone and no one had a right to take them from her. Layla Heartfilia had believed in her from the start, and she’d believed her now, and for her part believed that the reason Lucy had been taken in the first place was Jude, because he was always forcing Lucy to show off for people, insisting the man treated their beloved daughter more like a prized pet than a child, something Lucy herself had always felt herself but never dared to voice.

It was the only time she’d ever seen parents argue, and she’d been shocked at how vicious it became, both parents blaming the other for what had happened. It had only ended when Jude had taken an aggressive step toward her mother, and Padfoot, sensing her worry had let out a vicious growl, which not only made Jude step back, but reminded both parents she was still in the room.

Her mother had immediately scooped her into a hug apologizing and guiding her gently out of the room, but not before casting one last glare over her shoulder at Jude. She’d been escorted to her rooms where her doting mother had helped her get cleaned up. She’d apologized several more times, apparently not hearing, or ignoring that Lucy told her apologies weren’t necessary. For the first time since she was very little her mother had joined her in bed, stroking her hair until she fell asleep, both Padfoot and Virgo out to keep watch just in case.

It had been three days since that fight and things hadn’t gotten any better, if anything they’d escalated, and she knew that her parents still weren’t sharing a room, her mother spending every moment, both waking and sleeping at her side apparently terrified she’d disappear again. Jude had yet to visit her even once which would’ve been bad enough on its own but It hadn’t helped matters that the Keys that had been confiscated from Greer had been given to them as a form of compensation and her mother, against all Jude’s wishes had decided she, Lucy, the one who was victimized by them, should decide what to do about them.

Something she’d felt a bit reluctant about, but had accepted as Jude’s wish had been to melt them down or snap them in half, something that was completely appalling to both her and her mother. Yes, they’d hurt her, but at the same time they’d been under Contract. One of the most dangerous things about a Contract for Celestial Spirits was that they weren’t to disobey orders, some were strong enough to rebel, but Silver Keys generally weren’t.

Therefore she understood it wasn’t their fault they’d attacked her, under both Contract and order, much like an Imperious Curse. That didn’t mean she necessarily wanted them for herself though. In fact, she wasn’t sure what to do with them, which led to where she was now staring down at them as her mother and Bero watching on.

There were three keys in her hand including Coma Berenices ~ Bernice’s Hair, which had broken her ankle and sent her for a tumble. Her mother had hired someone from a nearby guild with healing magic to help speed along her recovery and ensure her ankle would heal right, but she’d still be on crutches for a week and a half.

She also held Canes Venatici, the Hunting Dogs, who had hurt Virgo and briefly prevented her escape, but who had in turn been torn to pieces by Padfoot. Admittedly they would recover, but it had no doubt been an extremely painful experience for them.

Finally there was Pyxis, the Compass, who hadn’t been summoned. Unsurprising as it wasn’t really a Spirit that was meant for battle. It was this key that she kept holding the other two out to Bero and her mother.

“I don’t think it would be fair, to them or to me, Virgo, and Padfoot if I kept these two, but please make sure they go to good homes!” she explained. Padfoot huffed his agreement to this, shooting a narrow-eyed glare at the two keys in question. He honestly hadn’t been thrilled that she’d Contracted Ophiuchus, despite the fact that the snake hadn’t actually hurt her. He knew a promise was a promise though and hadn’t argued, though she doubted he would trust the new Key any time soon.

Bero accepted the offered keys patting her gently on the hand, understanding in his wizened face, as he carefully placed them in his pocket. With that matter settled she turned to another, one she’d been thinking hard on ever since she’d successfully returned home.

“Mama, Bero, he took my keys away,” she told them, hand automatically clutching at the ring her mother had given her to accompany the Canis Major key the first day she’d successfully summoned Padfoot, “I couldn’t stop him.”

The two adults looked at her, clear concern on their faces, both obviously trying to think of words of comfort, but that wasn’t what she wanted. She’d already discussed this with Padfoot and Virgo, but neither of them had any answers for her so she’d turned to the two adults she trusted most, “I need to protect my Keys better. I have to protect my friends, so they don’t get taken against their will ever again, but I don’t know how! Please, do you know anything?”

“Lucy you know we won’t let something like that happen to you again right?” her mother asked, looking tearful, which tore at her heart something awful, guilt almost making her retract the question, but she couldn’t, she’d promised she’d do better to protect her friends, and this was the only way she could think of.

“I know you’ll always protect me mama,” she told the older woman hobbling over to lay her head in her lap, “But Virgo and Ophiuchus and Padfoot all have rare Keys, bad people are always going to try to take them away like in your stories, and I don’t know how to protect them. They’re my friends and I don’t want them to be hurt.”

“Oh Lucy,” her mother cooed tearfully, gently taking her face in her hands and stroking her cheeks with her thumbs, “you’re such a good girl. I’ve always known you were responsible and that you would take your bonds with your Spirits seriously, and I’m so, so proud of you.”

Lucy’s own lips trembled at the words, it wasn’t the first time her mother in this life had said she was proud, but it never failed to make her feel emotional and she buried her face in her mother’s middle to hide her own teary eyes, relishing the feel of her mother’s hands as they gently carded through her hair.

After a moment Bero spoke up, his voice gentle and kind, “I have some ideas for a magic that might help you protect your keys, but it will take me some time to figure out if it will be possible for you, and how to teach you.”

“And in the meantime, in the meantime I think I know someone who can teach you a think or two about defending yourself,” her mother admitted making her lift her face from her stomach in surprise.

Really, she had never expected she’d be allowed to learn anything combat related figuring her father would pitch a fit at dedicating something he would deem unnecessary for her education as an heiress and her mother wouldn’t want her doing something that might see her injured in any way shape or form, so had reluctantly ruled it out as an option. It seemed that once again she’d underestimated her mother.

“Thank you,” she told them both unable to stop the tears of gratitude from spilling over her cheeks, as she glanced between her mother and Bero, “Thank you so much!”

She’d be able to learn how to protect her friends!

♈️ ♉️ ♊️ ♋️ ♌️ ♍️ ♎️ ♏️ ♐️ ♑️ ♒️ ♓️

She didn’t get to start her lessons for a couple of weeks as that was how long it took to get off her crutches and get her ankle completely healed and for Bero to find the magic he was looking for. During her forced period of rest, she contracted Pyxis, a cheerful owl-like creature with a compass attached to his head.

Pyxis was a friendly little thing, and apparently happy to be summoned whenever, but especially if she was lost. Unsurprisingly the little owl had a superb sense of direction and could navigate almost anywhere. He was a little embarrassed that, that was all he was capable of, especially compared to the rest of the keys in her possession, but she assured him the skill was invaluable and even if it wasn’t she didn’t choose or love her family members because they were useful.

The little owl had clearly been touched by this, and most days allowed himself to be summoned to simply hang out and keep her company, which was no hardship considering his key was the least draining on her reserves. Between him, Padfoot, Virgo, and the two times she was allowed to summon Ophiuchus they managed to keep her from going too stir crazy confined as she had been to her crutches.

Luckily at the end of two weeks after she’d returned home from being kidnapped Bero found the magic he ‘d been searching for. Apparently, it was a specialized branch of magic called Requip magic that allowed the user to put items into an interdimensional pocket and pull them out again. According to his research using her own magic to open and close this pocket meant no one would be able to touch her keys but her, which sounded just about perfect.

The only problem of course was that her magic apparently had a natural inclination toward Celestial Spirit summoning, which made sense as such inclinations were hereditary. However, it also meant that learning Requip, if she was able to learn at all, would be a long and hard struggle for her, and she’d never be able to do more than the most minor things with it.

That was fine, she didn’t need to master Requip magic, all she needed was just enough to store her keys away and call them back out again, that would be more than enough for her. Luckily it seemed Requip wasn’t an uncommon ability for mages in some small form, and they’d even had someone on staff who knew how to do it. Her name was Spetto, her mother’s personal maid, and she had happily volunteered to teach her. Which would be for half an hour every evening, which worked out well around her other new training.

The person her mother had initially had in mind was apparently somewhere she was having trouble contacting, so instead she’d arranged for lessons from the local chapter of Knights, who would start her basic self-defense lessons.

As expected her father, once he found out was absolutely furious, so much so that he actually tried to forbid it. He and her mother had, had another screaming fight. Lucy had been sent from the room this time, but remembering what had happened last time she’d promptly gone to Bero to supervise, and ensure Jude didn’t make a single aggressive move toward her mother.

She wasn’t sure the man would actually hit her mother, but she’d lived by the ‘better safe than sorry’ motto for the entirety of her last life, and was more than happy to take precautions when it meant protecting the one other human in this life who loved her unconditionally.

In the end her mother had once again gotten her way, but it was immediately apparent that this time irreparable damage had been done to their relationship. Her mother was no longer sharing rooms with Jude and she’d also begun to legally separate her assets from his.

Divorce was unheard of in this world, or at least in this country as far as she was aware, which meant technically her mother couldn’t leave. However, she could ensure her part of the Heartfilia Konzern, which was exactly half given she and Jude had founded it together, was out of his control.

She’d even overheard her mother asking Spetto if she should take back the Heartfilia name. Apparently unlike most married couples Jude had taken her name when they’d married instead of vice versa because she’d refused to part with it. The main line of Celestial Summoners had always been Heartfilia and she’d insisted any child of hers bear the name just in case that was the path they decided to take. Jude had apparently acquiesced at the time in part because Heartfilia, unlike his own name, did still hold a bit of clout with other mages, if not as much as it used to back in its prime.

In the end they’d decided to let Jude keep it, though everything she had would go to Lucy, even if she died before Lucy was of age. Her mother was of the opinion that the wealth had gone to Jude’s head because he hadn’t ever been like that before, back when they were just two lowly workers at Love and Lucky. He’d changed since the company had taken off, and she no longer recognized him as the man she’d fallen in love with, the man she’d married.

Lucy had listened to the entirely of this conversation concealed in a shadowy corner with Padfoot aching for her poor mother, but knowing there was very little she could do to alleviate her pain. A part of her felt guilty because she knew she was what caused her parents to argue the most, but then she didn’t think she’d done anything wrong, and neither did any of her Keys when she talked it over with them.

Padfoot had never particularly cared for Jude, and the feeling had been mutual, this latest just proved he’d been right to feeling that way all along. Virgo had been indifferent to him before, but now she knew he’d upset Lucy which had put him right at the top of loyal Virgo’s most despised list. Pyxis was too new to have met Jude before so had assumed Jude was just a nasty cretin from the start. Ophiuchus had offered to eat him for her, though he was mostly indifferent, admitting he’d never understood the human convention of father’s helping raise their young, unsurprising considering male snakes never did, and Celestial Spirits didn’t have ‘young’ in the traditional sense.

There were of course Celestial Spirits whose personality seemed to be that of a young child, most of the Minor constellations like Ursa Minor, Canis Minor and so on were that way, but they, and the older ones, including those like elderly seeming Crux had all sprung into existence the exact way they were now, with no raising involved whatsoever.

Ophiuchus had gone on to assert that most human children were disgusting, wet, stinky beings with the occasional exception and he didn’t understand the fascination at all. It had made her laugh, especially when Virgo pointed out that despite his feelings on the matter the Snake Constellation had always gone out of his way to avoid injuring or killing anything that might be considered young.

Time passed, and she settled into a new routine, working hard at her self-defense lessons in the morning, other lessons in the afternoons, and her Requip lesson at night. She was almost always accompanied by one or more of her Spirits no matter where she was, which was fine by her. When she wasn’t at lessons she was with her mother, or relaxing with her Spirits doing her best to balance having the childhood she’d never gotten in her first life, and preparing herself for any trouble that might come her way.

Tension was still high in the house, though there was an uneasy truce between Jude and her mother, but she still wasn’t sharing a room with him, had in fact moved into the suite across from Lucy’s. It made things uncomfortable at times, but it was nothing she wasn’t used to. She was used to walking on eggshells from her time at the Dursleys and frankly this was nowhere near as bad.

Truthfully, she wished there was a way for her mother to leave Jude in this world. She deserved so much better than to be as miserable as Jude made her. Maybe he’d been a loving husband once, but frankly she’d never seen it, maybe there had been moments when she was a baby, but she certainly didn’t remember any.

Unfortunately, they’d just have to put up with the situation as it was, because the only option for separation was if Jude died, which wasn’t going to happen any time soon considering how healthy he seemed. The only other option would’ve been to kill him, but for all she was growing to dislike the man more and more by the day she didn’t think he deserved to die, not yet, though that would change if he ever dared lay a hand on her precious mother.

Putting the matter out of her mind for now she decided to focus on what she had, and leave worrying about Jude to her mother. After all she was still in the body of a child and therefore only had limited options. Besides her mother had proved to be a strong willed and fierce woman. She was sure she could handle it, and really she didn’t need him or want him.

Admittedly it would’ve been nice to have two living, loving parents, but frankly she felt blessed with just the one. She didn’t need any more than that.

♈️ ♉️ ♊️ ♋️ ♌️ ♍️ ♎️ ♏️ ♐️ ♑️ ♒️ ♓️

She should’ve known better than to tempt the fates. Yes, this life was supposed to be a reward of sorts, but that didn’t mean it was going to be without hardship, it wouldn’t have been life otherwise. Still she would’ve chosen almost anything else over this.

Honestly, she should’ve realized something was happening. Her mother had been acting rather suspiciously in the last six months, sending out letters and meeting people in secret, spending time away from the mansion that she’d rarely left before and never without taking Lucy along with her.

However, she’d thought that maybe her mother was working on doing something to further separate them from Jude. They’d had another argument recently, over her outing with a hired mage from a nearby guild who had taken her on a quest of sorts for a Key. It was her birthday present from her mother, and while it hadn’t exactly been a harrowing mission, just a bit of a treasure hunt, the Silver Key she’d received Horologium the Grandfather Clock, was fantastic, and it had been a lot of fun to get out of the mansion.

She’d never for one second suspected she was up to something completely different. She still wasn’t sure what had happened. Her mother had always been a little sickly, not as strong as she should be, but she’d disappeared overnight two weeks ago and when she’d come back…

When she’d come back she’d been so pale and thin, gaunt in a way she’d only seen during the war in her past life, and so very weak. She’d been bedridden from the moment she came back, and had steadily worsened until she’d faded away completely a week and a half later.

She hadn’t left her mother’s side the entirety of the time she lay in her bed, clinging to her desperately, wishing there was something, anything she could do, but in the end all she’d been able to do was be there for her.

No one else had been able to do anything for her, not even the mages summoned from all the surrounding guilds Jude had brought in had been able to do anything. It didn’t help that her mother refused to tell anyone what she’d been doing that she’d become so weak in the first place. In fact, she’d insisted there was nothing to be done despite Lucy’s protests, and hadn’t actually wanted anyone summoned at all.

Lucy had been devastated, losing the parent who loved her all over again. It seemed it was her fate to have her mother sacrifice herself in some form or another, and she knew it was sacrifice of some sort, she of all people should know what it looked like. Her only small comfort was that it seemed this time that her mother hadn’t died so she could live.

Still staring at the elaborate grave, the stone sarcophagus that held her mother’s body elaborately decorated, carved with the constellations she’d loved, topped with a fancy headstone, and an enormous stone angel with arms outstretched, the thought’s comfort was miniscule. Not when her mother, her gentle, loving, warm mother, was nothing but hard, unfeeling, cold stone.

Gently she placed her bouquet of flowers on to the cold stone box and stepped back again into the embrace of the servants. Bero and Spetto were both holding her, and Padfoot was a warm bulk at her side. Virgo was at her back, gently bracing her and holding the umbrella to shield them from the rain. It was only fitting that the heavens too should cry for her mother the beloved Celestial Mage who had tried to teach her daughter all she knew.

Her Keys were warm in her hand offering their own comfort where they could, including her newest one. Aquarius, the Water Bearer, had been one of the three golden gate keys her mother had personally possessed. When she’d first gotten sick, she’d passed the Key to her dear and trusted friend Grammi.

Grammi had arrived a week after her mother’s fateful disappearance and passed the key back to her for Lucy before disappearing again. Lucy wasn’t sure where she was now, and she couldn’t bring herself to care either.

What she had cared about was Aquarius. She’d been unsure what to do about the Key, she didn’t know if she was ready for another contract so soon after her mother’s death, adding another family member, especially one so closely connected to her would’ve felt like replacing her on some level and that was unacceptable.

What she did know was that Aquarius had been her mother’s friend, so she’d sucked it up and summoned the Key. Aquarius had been extremely haughty and rude at first, dismissive of her because she was a child, but she’d been in no mood to put up with it. She was a little ashamed of snapping at the Spirit, she hadn’t lost her temper that badly since she was fifteen and destroyed Dumbledore’s office.

She’d called the mermaid-like spirit out on her behavior and told her she wasn’t asking for a contract, she was asking if she wanted to come to her mother’s funeral or not, and if not just say so because she had funeral arrangements to make and no time to deal with her childishness.

Aquarius had been stunned into silence both by her fierce attitude and the words themselves, apparently, she hadn’t been aware yet that her mother Layla had passed on. The stricken expression on her face was enough to make Lucy forgive her for her extremely poor first impression and invite her again, this time properly.

Aquarius had agreed and was even now standing just outside the shelter of the umbrella, insisting as a water-based Spirit that the rain didn’t bother her and was in fact rather pleasant. She wasn’t sure if that was true or not, but what she was sure of was that rain was incredibly useful to hide tears. The slight trembling in the Spirit’s shoulders gave her away, but Lucy would never call her on it, she’d used the tactic before herself.

It was funny how many people came to her mother’s funeral, and a bit upsetting as well. A good majority of them were her father’s business associates no doubt looking to get a leg up while Jude was ‘weak’ from losing his wife, others were ‘long lost family members’ who she’d never met or heard of, the closest relation being a second cousin a couple decades older than her, obviously hoping to inherit something with her mother’s death.

The only people who really seemed to be mourning her mother properly were several mages, a couple of former coworkers from Love and Lucky and the servants she’d befriended over the years.

Behind the numbness she was feeling she knew there was a blazing inferno of fury for the money grasping wretches who dared to use her mother’s funeral to advance their own interests. It was tempered by her gratitude for those who’d truly loved the remarkable woman that had been Layla Heartfilia, but even so she made a mental note of every single name and face, vowing not to forget.

She kept her face calm though as she was guided to stand next to Jude and everyone filed through to offer their condolences on their way inside where there were refreshments waiting for them. When the last person had shaken Jude’s hand, and turned to go the man turned toward her, for a moment she thought he might say something to her.

He hadn’t spoken a word to her since bursting into her mother’s room and demanding to know if she’d really died, shutting himself into his office and leaving her and the servants to handle most of the funeral preparations.

Just as he opened his mouth his eyes flicked to the Spirits who were still standing with her, and his lips twisted into a sneer. He twisted on his heel and turned away, making his way toward the mansion leaving her alone with her spirits and her mother’s grave.

Her own face twisted in a derisive sneer. She didn’t know much about being a parent, having never been one herself, but she did know abandoning your ten-year-old in front of her newly deceased mother’s grave without a word of comfort wasn’t exactly gold-star behavior.

It served as a harsh reminder that from now on she was basically an orphan all over again, and made her more than a bit worried for the future. She wasn’t sure what all was going to happen to her now, especially since technically Jude had sole custody of her until she came of age. She had no desire to let him control her future, especially with how much disdain he had for mages, and for her Spirits.

“What will you do now?” the voice broke her from her thoughts and she turned to see Aquarius. She hadn’t realized the Zodiac Spirit was still there, figuring she would’ve gone home to the Spirit Realm after the funeral ended, apparently not. She looked subdued now, not nearly as haughty as she had been when Lucy had first summoned her.

“I don’t know,” she admitted quietly, looking toward her mother’s grave, “What I want more than anything right now is to leave this place, and all the memories behind for a while, go somewhere new to give myself time and distance to grieve, but that isn’t an option.”

“Why not?” Aquarius asked clearly surprised, “It’s not like you’re short on funds.”

That was true enough. Her mother had left her everything she owned, which meant technically speaking she now owned half of the Heartfilia Konzern, though right now it would be managed by trustworthy representative for her until she came of age.

“I’m still considered a child, which means I’d need permission from Jude in order to be allowed to go, permission he would never give,” Lucy explained with a grimace, her gaze hardened as she turned towards Aquarius and continued, “But I can be patient. I can wait. I won’t be little forever, and someday I’m going to get out of here, and I’m going to explore the world the same way mom did, with my best friends and family by my side.”

Aquarius raised a brow at that, studying her quietly for a moment before nodding seemingly to herself, “Best we get a contract written then.”

Clearly reading her startled expression the mermaid type Spirit told her, “Someone has got to watch over Layla’s kid while she’s running around out in the world, and since the other two Zodiacs she had aren’t here that means it has to be me.”

Her two present Spirits looked like they might want to protest, but she just smiled, she recognized the tactic for what it was. It was Aquarius’ way of admitting that she’d like to stay with her so she intervened, “Thank you Aquarius. I’d like that, and maybe sometime if you’re not busy you can tell me a couple of stories about your time with mom? She told me a lot, but I’m sure you know a few she didn’t, or will have new perspective on the ones she did.”

Aquarius smirked slightly and nodded in acknowledgment, “So let’s get this contract settled.”

♈️ ♉️ ♊️ ♋️ ♌️ ♍️ ♎️ ♏️ ♐️ ♑️ ♒️ ♓️

“Excuse me?” Lucy asked flatly.

“You heard me daughter,” Jude told her clear annoyance on his face, “I’ve let your childish whimsies go on long enough. It’s time you start taking your responsibilities as an heiress properly and stop playing with those ridiculous trinkets of yours.”

Lucy just stared at him, holding on to her temper by the skin of her teeth. It had been four years since her mother had died, and for the most part Jude ignored her. They only ever seemed to cross paths at dinner time, which was held in awkward silence. It wasn’t the best existence, and she’d literally been counting the days until she was eighteen and she could leave this place for good. Right now, she was just a few months shy of her fifteenth birthday, a little over three years to go.

She’d been spending what time she could preparing for the journey, training with the local chapter of the Knights, taking her lessons, meeting up regularly with the small council of people who were helping manage the fortune she’d inherited, studying things she thought might be useful that she hadn’t had the time to learn in her first life, and collecting little things she thought might be handy.

She’d also spent time with her Spirits both simply hanging out, and training with them. Aquarius had actually been the one to point out that if she meant to be able to fight alongside her Spirits she’d need to know how to work with them so they wouldn’t get in each other’s way. Which made a lot of sense, of course before she could train with Aquarius she had to learn to swim, something she’d been extremely reluctant to do.

Aquarius hadn’t been the least bit pleased with her and Lucy had the feeling she’d hurt the mermaid Spirit’s feelings. In the end she’d been forced to tell the Water-Bearer about her previous life to explain why she was so uncomfortable with water, and figured she would tell her other three spirits at the same time.

Pyxis as expected of the good natured little Compass Spirit had taken it in his stride, cheerfully accepting it as just another part of his friend Lucy. Ophiuchus had been absolutely fascinated, especially when she explained that her ability to speak to him in his own language was a leftover fragment of that life.

The most interesting reaction had been Horologium. Apparently, the Clock Spirit had felt something was off from the beginning about her age, her being reborn, according to him at least, explained everything. Which made sense in a way, that a Spirit intrinsically connected to time would notice such a thing.

Aquarius had been skeptical at first, but between her demonstrated Parseltongue abilities, mature outlook, and Horologium’s testimony she’d reluctantly accepted that Lucy was telling the truth about her past life.

However, then she was forced to explain why she was afraid of water, which hadn’t exactly been an easy discussion either. She never liked talking about her life with the Dursleys, in fact she actually preferred talking about the war with Voldemort over her childhood abuse, which she supposed was probably more than a bit messed up but she couldn’t seem to help it.

She explained when she was little and unable to bathe herself her Aunt was the one to give her baths, and had been so upset at having to do so, that in order to wash her hair she’d shove her whole face under the shower head and hold her there as she choked and struggled to breathe. Between that and nearly drowning herself in order to rescue Hermione from the lake during the Triwizard Tournament she’d never been fond of water or the idea of swimming. Even the Weasleys had never convinced her to, despite the rather nice and shallow pond in their yard. Every time they offered she’d stay out and sunbathe with Hermione and Ginny instead.

Aquarius had been more sympathetic after that, but even more determined that she had to learn. Lucy had eventually caved and under the careful, protective eyes of every single one of her Spirits, had learned to swim. Even Ophiuchus had chosen to be present, though he insisted it was only because it was a beautiful sunny day and he wanted to soak up some extra sunshine because he was shedding and it helped the itch.

It had taken her quite a while to learn, but Aquarius had proved to be a surprisingly patient teacher, and she’d gotten to the point where she did feel safe enough to swim on her own though she always had Aquarius’ key on a chain around her neck for easy access when she did, the mermaid Spirit having assured her she would come whenever Lucy needed if she had trouble in the water.

She also knew it was for the best that she’d learned, after all it wasn’t like she could just avoid water all her life, not when Fiore was a peninsula. Even if it wasn’t there were always lakes, rivers, and other potentially hazardous bodies of water that she would’ve no doubt run into on wherever her journey took her.

Though it looked like going on that journey might be harder than she expected if Jude was going to take notice again and try to dictate things to her.

“I’m already acting as an heiress,” she informed the man hoping to derail him, “I meet with my council every day and I have final say in how I run mom’s part of the company.”

“All well and good,” he informed her stiffly, the closest she thought he’d ever really gotten to complimenting her, “but you need to be doing more, getting out, socializing and making contacts, attending the parties and networking not playing with your pets.”

This was said with a dark look cast at Padfoot who was curled up on the cushion she’d gotten for him for the office she did most of her studying in, which was what she’d been doing before Jude had barged in and decided to ruin her day. Padfoot lifted his head, pointedly and gave the man the canine equivalent of a sneer before placing his head back down again, managing to convey without words that the disdain was mutual and that Jude wasn’t worth his time or effort, though she noted his muscles remained in that strangely languid posture that indicated he was ready to spring into action the minute she needed him, and he had one eyelid cracked to keep watch.

“They’re not pets,” she hissed at him through gritted teeth, “They’re family, and I have no interest in schmoozing or parties, and no need for it either, my part of the company is doing just fine without it.”

“People are talking, you haven’t shown your face at one of the parties for seven years. I made allowance for your grief for Layla, but now your foolishness will cease and desist before you do any more damage to the Heartfilia Konzern,” Jude informed her icily.

“I don’t care,” she informed him with a sneer, “I’m not stupid. I know none of our money comes from brown-nosing with those grasping, greedy, leeches you like to cavort around with. Who like to play high-rolling philanthropists but just like to strut and waddle like peacocks because they think it makes them look good. It comes from solid investments into profitable small businesses that have the potential for growth, not pathetic, fat worms whose greatest accomplishment in life is sitting on the money their parents and grandparents worked for.”

“Watch your mouth when you speak about my friends you stupid, thoughtless little girl,” Jude snarled at her.

“Hah!” she laughed interrupting whatever he might’ve said next, “If you think those people are your friends than you’re the stupid one. You think those people would even look twice at you if you didn’t have money? You think they’d lift a finger if something were to happen to you? Think again!”

Jude took a threatening step toward her, but a snarl from Padfoot who was suddenly in front of her desk, standing protectively between him and her froze him in place.

“Control your mutt!” he snarled at her, furiously though the way he’d immediately backtracked, and the slight tremors in his hands let her know he was more worried that he let on.

“I don’t control Padfoot, he’s his own master,” she told him, her hand moving slowly to the key ring at her waist just in case. She didn’t think Jude could actually do anything, but experience had more than taught her it was better to be safe than sorry.

“If you don’t put a leash on him right now you’ll regret it girl,” he threatened.

“I very much doubt that, you’re no mage, and he’s a Celestial Spirit, you couldn’t touch him if you tried,” she snapped unable to completely keep the lid on her own temper anymore.

“No,” Jude admitted though the look on his face meant he was far too triumphant for the confession, “But you’re another story. You’re still my daughter after all, and you will be made to see sense. I’m your father and I know what’s best for you”

With those rather ominous words he turned on his heel and left, slamming her office door behind him. Lucy glanced at Padfoot with a frown, and he looked equally concerned, this really didn’t bode well. She had a bad feeling about this.

♈️ ♉️ ♊️ ♋️ ♌️ ♍️ ♎️ ♏️ ♐️ ♑️ ♒️ ♓️

As per usual her instincts turned out to be spot on. Jude had decided that as her genetic donor he had a right to choose who to marry her off too, clearly hoping to forge deep connections with another rich family, which explained why he’d wanted to force her into attending those stupid society functions she’d been avoiding like the plague. He wanted to show her off.

It made sense in a twisted sort of way, because no one had really seen her outside the servants and her Keys for almost a decade, but a part of her railed against the injustice and humiliation of the thought that Jude wanted to show her off as if she was a prize cow at a fair.

Admittedly she was shaping up to be rather beautiful in this life, which was understandable considering she was nearly the spitting image of her mother Layla, who despite her frailty was still one of the most beautiful women she’d ever seen. Combine her mother in this life’s looks, with her mother in the last life’s green eyes and the fact that she didn’t have to deal with scars or malnutrition this time around and she was self-aware enough to know she’d be stunning.

Which didn’t help things in the least even if it did appeal to the part of her that had always been envious of the other girls in Gryffindor. She’d always been the scrawny, if exotically colored one, that might’ve been appealing if not for the fact that her body was half scar tissue, or at least that’s what she’d overheard Lavender and Parvati say.

Now she knew she was growing into the kind of beauty that would’ve made Lavender weep in envy, and a small petty part of her was glad for it, even if it was about to cause her quite a bit of trouble.

It didn’t seem to matter to Jude that he and her mother had married for love, or that her mother had explicitly stated that she should also get the chance to do so. Even if, in her opinion Layla’s own love match hadn’t actually worked out all that well for her, she was glad her mother had wanted to give her the freedom to choose.

Unfortunately, Jude had decided that since he was her father, and alive, that his wishes should override hers, and had begun putting out the notion that he was looking for a husband for her, no doubt intending to hand her off to the highest bidder. The most infuriating part of it all was that technically speaking he was allowed to do it. Apparently, much like Pureblood society from her last life, arranged marriages weren’t actually all that uncommon.

Luckily it seemed once more, even in death, her mother had come through for her, and had actually had it written into her will that Lucy be allowed to marry for love. Jude was trying to contest it, of course, saying that he had equal, if not more say to her than Layla did, but the lawyers hired by her part of the Konzern were doing a phenomenal job of holding him off.

Bero had confided in her that the plan was to win, but if they couldn’t the very least they could do was stall him for time while they made other moves to try to keep him from getting his way.

It was a good plan, even if it did mean she was forced to put up with the pompous, old, disgusting, greedy men her father kept inviting over for dinner to ‘meet’ her, in such a way that she couldn’t avoid them or ask them to leave. For the most part they kept their hands to themselves, especially with Padfoot always with her, though a few got a couple slaps to her arse and pinches to her breasts and thighs, which always made her incandescent with fury and helpless rage, especially as her so-called father did nothing to discourage them.

Unfortunately, she couldn’t just allow Padfoot, or any of her other furious Spirits to beat the men away, or give them a well-deserved slap herself. Despite her words to Jude, she knew she couldn’t really afford to outright offend some of these men, not just yet anyway.

Things came to a head shortly after her seventeenth birthday, as one of the men actually tried to follow her to her room, and had to be warned away by Virgo. The Maid-like spirit was normally so mild mannered that most wouldn’t guess she was a Zodiac Key and could be absolutely terrifying when she wanted to be. The man had left with a broken wrist and a newfound phobia of maids.

Jude had been practically incandescent with rage and had locked her into her rooms and told the servants she was to only be served minimal food and water until she capitulated, and not only apologized to the creepy old pervert who was at least three times her age, but agree to marry him as well. The servants had been horrified and tried to protest, but he informed them rather callously that servants were replaceable and if they didn’t like it they could find somewhere else to work.

Once, a life time ago she would’ve put up with it, she was used to minimal food and water after all, and had done it before. She would’ve simply chosen to bide her time until her eighteenth birthday, afraid to make waves lest something worse happen. But this was a new life, and she was done sitting around.

Instead she decided it was time to up her timetables. She was going to leave. After all, technically in her last life seventeen had been considered of age, and she found it rather fitting that she’d be doing the same thing again in this life. Especially since she was far more prepared this time to be going out on her own, having completed most of her magic studies. She was now capable of holding all her gates open the three Golden Keys Aquarius, Ophiuchus, and Virgo, plus her three silver keys Horologium, Pyxis, and her Padfoot for a full eight hours. These days she didn’t bother sending Padfoot back to the Celestial Realm, instead keeping the Dog Constellation’s door open twenty-four seven and only closing it if he asked for it to be closed for a while, which had never actually happened once she passed fourteen.

She also had her Requip magic to the point where she could hold all her keys in a space at her hip, safe away from both prying eyes and sticky fingers. It was only thanks to this precaution that Jude hadn’t tried to forcibly take them after the incident with the pervert, not that either she or Padfoot would’ve let him.

It took a little planning on her part, but unlike the last time she’d tried escaping in this life, things were much easier this time. She had her keys with her for one, and she knew the Heartfilia Mansion like the back of her hand. She’d left letters for Jude, along with her trusted council, and Bero and Spetto the two servants who were closest to her, and Virgo had kindly stored the things she couldn’t bear to leave behind in the Spirit World for her.

Having Virgo meant there was no need to worry about clothes, as her first Zodiac Spirit adored dressing her in the clothes she made personally and Lucy wasn’t picky about her clothes and liked to make Virgo happy, which meant the only things she needed to pack were her essentials, toiletries, a couple magic tools to help her out on her journey, weapons, money, small tent, sleeping bag, and food.

Most of these she’d already acquired and hidden away in her closet, so it was only a matter of packing them into the sturdy backpack she’d bought. It had actually been her most expensive purchase as it had a small expansion magic on it that made it three times bigger on the inside than the outside. Expansion magics were incredibly difficult to set permanently, so it had to be custom ordered and had cost her more than she cared to remember. She might be just as rich in this life as she’d been in the last one but that didn’t change the fact that her first life and experience with the Dursleys still made her cringe at such extravagant spending.

She waited until late at night, when everyone but a couple of servants would be sleeping, hoping that would grant them reprieve should Jude be looking for someone to blame about her escape. She made a quick stop to the kitchens to fill her canteens, and stock up on food before carefully slipping out a side door and sticking to the shadows Padfoot at her side to help conceal her movements.

The night air was pleasantly cool on her skin, the sky cloudless and offering a clear view of the stars. It was mid-July, a good time to leave, and get as far away from Jude as she could before winter came. There was just one thing left to do before she left the grounds of the mansion that had been her home.

Taking a moment, she knelt in front of her mother’s grave, placing her forehead against the cool stone, and resting a hand over the inscription. It was clean, the servants always kept it immaculate, and one of the few expenses she insisted on herself was that it got fresh flowers every week.

“Hey mom,” she greeted, keeping her voice low and soft, “It’s been a while huh? Seven years now you’ve been gone, and I still miss you every day.”

“It’s been so hard without you, Jude is awful I don’t know why you married him mom, you deserved so much better,” she told the grave with a wry smile, “But at least you seem to have good taste in friends, Bero and Spetto and the others I couldn’t have survived here as long as I did without them.”

“I’m going to miss them mom, but I can’t stay here any longer,” she admitted apologetically, “This place has become a cage mom, and every day the bars get closer and Jude and his cronies all prowl around the edges looking for any moment of weakness. It’s suffocating, and I can’t do it anymore.”

“I like to think you’d understand, with all the stories you told me, all the journeys you said you took, the places you encouraged me to dream about, and magic you encouraged me to learn,” she explained tearfully, “I hope wherever you are now that if you can see, that you’re proud, proud of me, the decisions I’ve made, and the way I’ve handled the legacy you left me both in Celestial Magic and in the Heartfilia Konzern.”

“She would be,” the voice made her jump in surprise and she whirled around nearly falling over shocked that someone had managed to sneak up on both her and Padfoot. A glance at her companion showed that he had not in fact been surprised but instead chosen to allow the person to approach. Though he did at least throw an apologetic glance at her for allowing her to be startled.

“Spetto what are you doing out here?” she asked the woman, who had been her mother’s personal maid, dear friend, her own Requip magic instructor, and what she thought a real aunt would’ve been like as opposed to Petunia. She was more than a bit shocked at her presence out here though, and was a little worried she might try to say something to stop her going.

She wasn’t worried about Spetto tattling to Jude, of all the servants, Spetto was the one who hated Jude the most for the way he’d treated Layla before her death. She was however worried Spetto didn’t think she was ready to leave on her own, they’d discussed it before, but the plan had always been to leave after she turned eighteen, which was of age in this world.

“Bero and I have been taking turns waiting out here for you Miss Lucy,” Spetto told her with a soft smile, “He’ll be sorry he missed you.”

“Waiting for me?” she repeated baffled.

“That’s right, did you think you could fool us? We’ve known you all your life Miss Lucy,” she chided gently, “We’ve known for a while now that you wouldn’t be able to stay here much longer, not with that idiot Miss Layla had the misfortune to marry ruining everything.”

Lucy could only gape at her. She’d never heard Spetto be anything less than polite to anyone and she certainly hadn’t expected her and Bero to both know and support her leaving before her eighteenth birthday.

“You have our Layla’s spirit Lucky Lucy, from the time you were small I think all of us knew that someday this mansion would be too small for you,” Spetto continued with an affectionate smile, reaching up to gently pat her on the cheek, “You were meant to see the world, and do great things I just know it. I only wish Miss Layla was here to see you off herself.”

“Spetto,” Lucy whispered at a loss for words, touched and a bit tearful at her support.

“Since she can’t though I’ve got something for you. Your mother gave this to me for safe keeping for when you were ready, and I think you are now,” Spetto gently took one of Lucy’s hand and pressed a golden key into it, making her gasp in surprise.

“Cancer will look after you dear, between him, Aquarius, Virgo and that pup of yours I’m sure you’ll be well taken care of,” Spetto assured her with an affectionate smile, “And just in case you’re not, Bero left me with this to give you as well.”

Another key was pressed into her hand, one she recognized from the many times Bero had called him for her over the years so she could ask him her questions. Crux, Bero was giving Crux, his oldest and dearest companion over to her. With that she couldn’t contain her tears any longer. She was immediately caught up in a warm affectionate embrace.

“There now Miss Lucy, let it all out child,” Spetto soothed gently petting her hair, “Goodness knows this has been hard for you, poor thing, but everything is going to be alright now. You can go now and be free, explore the world as you were always meant to. Bero and I will hold the fort down here.”

“You’ll have your Spirits, your friends and family beside you, no doubt Miss Layla will be watching over you, and well, if you ever get tired or just need to rest a while, know you can always come home, and Bero and I will be waiting with open arms, and a nice cup of tea and plate of cookies ready to hear all about your adventures,” Spetto assured her, “I know you’ll make us proud.”

“I will,” she vowed tearfully, pulling back and swiping at her wet cheeks with the backs of her hands, “I swear I will.”

“Good girl,” Spetto praised affectionately, “Better get going now though, you’ll want to get as much distance between you and Jude as we can before he realizes you’re gone. We’ll delay that as long as possible, but it’s best you have a nice head start.”

Lucy nodded in agreement, and pulled her pack back on to her shoulders, Padfoot seeing their moment was finished padded over and gently nudged her side affectionately before turning so he could trot along with her.

“Explore, have wonderful adventures, make new friends,” Spetto advised tearfully, “and be safe Miss Lucy, be safe.”

She squeezed her hands in acknowledgment unable to get words out past the lump in her throat before turning back toward the gate, ready to get going. It was time to start her new adventure.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here it is as promised! I hope you all enjoy it! It will probably be a bit longer before the next chapter as I only have a bit of it written and other things I'm working on, but let me know if you have any thoughts on what keys Lucy should have in the future! I have my own ideas but I'm interested to hear what you think!
> 
> Also small hidden Little Mermaid quote in this one lol!


	3. Chapter 3

Lucy had mostly settled into routine and life on the road, though admittedly there had been a few bumps at first. The first week had been pretty tense as they tried to get as far away from Heartfilia Mansion as they could. Her Spirits had taken turns keeping a constant guard up just to make sure no one who might be coming after her had the chance to catch her unawares. After a week or so though they finally let their guard relax a little, and began to enjoy the time on the road a bit more.

Sleeping under the stars had taken on a whole new meaning for her as a Celestial Mage, and she’d been surprised to discover that she actually almost rested better under the open sky than she did in her nice comfortable bed at the Heartfilia Mansion. She always woke feeling energized and refreshed.

It was Virgo who eventually explained that as a Celestial Mage she drew power from the stars, and that if she were ever to find herself fighting at night she would probably find herself more powerful, not significantly so, but there would be a small boost.

She’d also contracted both Cancer and Crux. Crux had been both pleased and a little sad when it had happened. Apparently, he and Bero had been discussing the possibility of it for a while as neither of her teachers had wanted her to go out into the wild without some knowledge to rely on. He’d been more than happy to accompany her, which he’d hurriedly assured her, he would just probably miss his dear friend once in a while, which was more than understandable considering the two of them had been together for over fifty years.

Cancer had been a bit of a surprise, though all her spirits had personalities and quirks. Padfoot liked mischief, Virgo still asked for punishment once in a great while, Aquarius was a tsundere, Grampa Crux tended to gossip and ramble, Pyxis had a weakness for candy corn, Horologium had a collection of hour glasses, and Ophiuchus, despite his bloodthirsty demeanor enjoyed looking at art.

Cancer however was completely unexpected. After all one generally doesn’t expect a crab to end all their sentences with ‘shrimp’. She also wasn’t expecting him to have such an obsession with hair, but apparently, according to both Virgo and Aquarius, Cancer was the best beautician in the Celestial Realm.

This of course meant that he’d insisted on being called every morning to do her hair. He would’ve insisted on make-up and a mani-pedi every day as well if she hadn’t drawn the line. It seemed impractical on the road, though she did allow the occasional pedicure to satisfy her rare urge to pamper herself.

She had to admit it was kind of nice to have someone playing with her hair, and it reminded her of her mother. Cancer had been another of her spirits, so it had become a bit of a tradition that every morning he would tell her stories he remembered as he styled her hair. A good way to start off the morning on a light, positive note. After she’d get dressed, often with Virgo’s help, and then she’d head out for the day.

They didn’t have a particular direction, other than as far away from the Heartfilia Mansion as they could get. However, she did want to stay away from towns for the most part, which turned out to be rather difficult at first. Yes, they’d roughed it, but they’d practically starved when she Hermione and Ron had been on the run, because none of them actually knew how to survive in the wilds. The only reason they’d lived was because of Hermione’s foresight, luck, and the Aguamente spell which allowed them fresh water otherwise she had no doubt they would’ve died.

Luckily while she might not have true wilderness survival experience Padfoot was a dog, a born hunter, and his nose was phenomenal. Between him, Pyxis, and Horologium they managed well enough. 

Padfoot kept them fed by hunting, and even taught her how to hunt, more than once she was grateful not to be the squeamish type as she learned to gut and skin small game. She wasn’t any good at first, losing a lot of the meat, but she did slowly improve and she was a fairly good cook thanks to her time at the Dursleys, even if it was a bit harder over an open fire. Padfoot and Ophiuchus were more than happy to eat what she didn’t use to cook. Technically none of her spirits needed to eat, but they enjoyed it when they could so she was always more than happy to share.

Pyxis kept them from getting lost, it turned out he’d had summoners before and was a font of information about keeping track of where they were in the wilderness. He also had lots of tips and tricks for camping and finding shelter the few times they were caught out in storms, and was actually able to predict weather with perfect accuracy up to three days out as part of his abilities.

Crux helped them by identifying all kinds of interesting herbs, berries, mushrooms, trees, and plants, showing them what was edible and what was poisonous along with knowing some herbal remedies and teas that could be used for both medicine and first aid. She soaked the knowledge up like a sponge, noting that a lot of it was actually very similar to her Potions and Herbology classes from her first life, and wishing not for the first time, that she’d either paid more attention or had someone other than Snape as a teacher during most of her Hogwarts career.

Between them and all her other spirits, her family, by the end of her second month on the road she was feeling pretty good about herself, and was far more confident about her ability to survive. Admittedly the area they were in wasn’t exactly dangerous, as the areas on all sides were well policed by both the Rune Knights, and the nearby Mages Guilds, which was exactly why they’d come this way in the first place. Now that she was feeling more confident in her abilities she was willing to venture out further into more dangerous territories.

Which led her to where she was now, surrounded by her Spirits, with a map spread on a stump, as they all pored over it together trying to decide on their destination. Unfortunately, no one could agree on where exactly they wanted to go, the only thing they agreed on was that it was best to stay as far away from the Mansion, and thus the headquarters of the Heartfilia Konzern, as they possibly could.

“We should go to the ocean,” Aquarius informed her with a haughty flip of her hair, “You’ve never been and it’s a wonderful experience, much better than the measly little pond back on the estate. The Cloud Sea is particularly lovely during the winter especially the beaches because there’s a nice warm current that comes up from the South.”

“There’s a really nice library in Hosenka,” Crux put in hopefully.

“I want to hunt in the Lycan Woods,” Opiuchus hissed at her, “Show the dog what real hunting is.”

“The clock tower of Beanstalk is a clock amongst all clocks,” Horologium recommended.

“Shopping in Motor City, -ebi” Cancer added snipping the scissors in his hand enthusiastically at the prospect.

And of course, it all devolved from there. Luckily the others, Padfoot, Virgo, and Pyxis had no particular preference for where they went, but the others, Aquarius and Ophiuchus in particular were extremely adamant, and had quickly devolved into brawling. Unfortunately, the two were probably her most powerful offensive Spirits, and she quickly found herself snatched up into Virgo’s arms and carried up into one of the tall trees to keep her out of it.

Lucy watched in shocked disbelief as the two went at each other. She’d never actually seen them spar before, mostly because it was rare she had all her spirits out at the same time, and these two in particular were very picky about when they were summoned. She’d actually had to plan the meeting very carefully to ensure everyone could attend.

She wasn’t sure if she was awed, worried, or upset as she watched veritable tsunamis sweep through what had once been a peaceful forest, and enormous trees knocked down like dominos with every swipe of Ophiuchus’ tail as the two argued. It seemed her family members were far more powerful than she’d known, which was both reassuring, knowing they had her back, and a little bit worrying as it was her responsibility now to know when to call upon that power.

However, that wasn’t the concern right now, and those feelings were quickly shoved aside to make way for something far more potent, annoyance.

“Virgo do you have a whistle by chance?” she asked her maid-like spirit, her voice deceptively calm in a way that Ron and Hermione had once called ‘the calm before the storm’. Virgo must’ve picked up on something from her tone because she didn’t comment, just mutely nodded and handed over the item in question. She wasn’t sure just where Virgo kept all the odds and ends she always seemed to have on hand right when she needed them, but she wasn’t going to question it, the ability reminding her of Hermione’s seemingly endless stash in the beaded clutch she’d toted around.

She brought the whistle to her lips, but paused for a second to glance at Padfoot, remembering last second that he probably wouldn’t like this at all. At her look he grimaced, but nodded in agreement, doing his best to put his paws over his sensitive ears. She waited for him to be ready, then let out a long shrill blast.

The two Celestial Spirits immediately paused and turned to her, neither looking all too pleased at being interrupted, which was just tough cookies for them because she wasn’t all that pleased either.

“Could you please be a little more careful! We may be two months out, but I don’t want to attract anyone’s attention and this kind of destruction is bound to attract attention, which means we will now have to vacate this area rather quickly,” she informed the two gesturing at the mess they’d made.

Both huffed at her and turned up their noses in annoyance, but she could tell from long experience that both were a little embarrassed, both their tails thrashing rather agitatedly. It was honestly pretty hilarious that the two could be so similar, though both would no doubt be infuriated if she ever mentioned it.

“Now, if I remember correctly we’re just South of Terra Ignis,” she informed them glancing quickly at Pyxis who chirped in confirmation, “Which means if we head North and then West we’ll go through the Lycan Woods and hit the Cloud Sea, that will probably take us to the end of fall, and beginning of winter. From there we can head South along the sea to Motor City, then to Hosenka, before heading back inland to Beanstalk village. I personally would like to check out the Southwestern corner of Fiore past the mountains, because mom said there are some really interesting cave formations there. Does that work for everyone?”

There were generally murmurs of agreement, as everyone seemed fairly appeased with her choices, so she nodded her head decisively, “Alright, then we’d best get on our way, before someone sends Rune Knights or Mages to investigate the mess we left here.”

Her spirits all chimed agreement, several of them fading from existence, heading back to the Spirit Realm, though Ophiuchus did pause to say he would make an exception to his contract once they hit the boarder of the Lycan woods, because he wanted to travel there with her and be able to hunt freely, so should be summoned immediately.

Once he was gone she was left with Padfoot and Pyxis, carefully climbing up on to Padfoot’s back in what was now a well-practiced maneuver so they could vacate the area as quickly as possible, leaving a new whole new clearing with a small pond at the center in their wake that would have locals scratching their heads for weeks at the sudden strange change in landscaping.

♈️ ♉️ ♊️ ♋️ ♌️ ♍️ ♎️ ♏️ ♐️ ♑️ ♒️ ♓️

The trip through Lycan forest had turned into quite the adventure, as it turned out the reason Ophiuchus had chosen to hunt there was because of the large wolves that roamed the forest in packs, wolves almost the size of Padfoot, who was not amused by that at all, especially as he had to spend most of the trip in the Celestial Spirit realm, as his scent apparently drew wolves to them like moths to flame, most of them female and looking to mate, to his utter mortification.

The others teased her oldest companion for it terribly, and at the end he’d vowed never to step foot in the forest ever again, much to her private amusement even if she did try to keep a sympathetic face. 

On the other hand she’d had a really good time bonding with Ophiuchus. She’d known the snake-like Spirit could be snarky, but he had a delightfully dry wit and was terribly sarcastic as he mocked the wolves around them. She didn’t let him kill too many of them, not wanting to upset the balance of the forest, but those who didn’t leave once they caught sight of her enormous companion were fair game, as she figured that those ones had likely been too stupid or too aggressive to live, and so considered it their contribution thinning out the gene pool, something Ophichus had found hilarious when she pointed it out to him.

She’d also gotten several nice pelts out of the whole thing, souvenirs as her spoiled Spirit hadn’t wanted to eat the fur, insisting it was nicer without. She wasn’t entirely sure what she was going to do with them yet, but thought they might make nice rugs or blankets if or when she finally decided to settle down somewhere. 

After that it had been a short distance to the coast, and she’d found herself looking at the ocean for the first time in either life. The sight of it had taken her breath away, the vast beautiful blue waters, bright and clean unlike the oceans of her past life, which had always looked grungy the few times she’d managed to glimpse them on the telly, no doubt due to pollution that was nearly nonexistent here.

Aquarius had been incredibly smug about it, pleased with her awe, and had taken the time to give her lessons on how to properly swim in it, what to look out for, and how to find the best spots to gather seashells and watch the sun rise and set.

It was incredibly fun, and as promised the ocean was surprisingly warm for the time of year. Fiore never got really cold, not the way England or Scotland had, not outside the mountains anyway, but it did get chilly. It meant they didn’t have to deal with a lot of people crowding the beaches and the warmth of the ocean was more than enough to make up for the slight nip in the air. Plus, Padfoot and Pyxis were always up for being cuddled if she asked for it, and Padfoot in particular was always warm, and Horologium had been happy to let her crawl into his clock space whenever it got too cold.

She’d been reluctant, honestly to leave the ocean and the beach as she’d fallen in love, but she’d promised Cancer and the other spirits, and so did eventually head inland toward Motor City, reminding herself that the ocean wasn’t going anywhere and that she could always come back to it if she wanted.

Motor City had been quite the experience, especially when it came to shopping with Cancer. Honestly, she’d never been shopping for herself before, not really. In her first life growing up with the Dursleys she’d simply been handed things Aunt Petunia found second hand, as she’d had no money of her own. Even once she did have money she’d never dared hint she had it when she was trapped during the Summer with them for fear they’d try to take it for themselves.

What very little shopping she’d done had always been for school, and even then, sometimes the shopping had been done for her. She hadn’t even gotten to pick out her own Yule Ball dress as Mrs. Weasley had done it for her without letting her know that she’d needed to go shopping for one in the first place.

In this life most of her clothes were either ordered for her or made for her by Virgo. She’d never really left the mansion after her mother died, choosing to coop herself up in an attempt to remain under the radar, and before that Layla had, had dressmakers brought in for her, or had them ordered.

She’d tried to argue with Cancer that she was more than happy to wear whatever Virgo put her in, but to her surprise both of her Celestial Spirits had insisted she shop, assuring her that some of it could be stored in the Celestial world, as they’d apparently gotten special permission from the Spirit King just for that.

It seemed a rather frivolous thing to be asking a King, but she hadn’t voiced that to her Spirits, not wanting to hurt their feelings, and so had gone along with their whims. It had in the end, turned out to be far more fun than she’d expected. The ability to choose whatever she wanted to wear, to try things on and decide whether she liked them or not, the freedom of choice, was incredibly heady.

She ended up buying far more than she meant to, especially when it came to shoes, and jewelry, things Virgo couldn’t actually make for her. She’d even let Cancer talk her into getting her ears double pierced so she could wear some of the earrings she’d fallen in love with, something she had never been allowed to do, but always kind of wanted in her last life.

It had, strangely enough, been incredibly therapeutic, and she’d had to make a silent apology to Lavender and Parvati for always rolling her eyes behind their backs whenever they went on and on about their shopping trips. Admittedly she didn’t think she’d ever get as crazy as they had been about it, because spending that kind of money made her cringe, even if it was barely a drop in the bucket of her fortune, it was still more fun than she’d thought it would be.

The library in Hosenka was everything Crux had promised it would be, beautiful, large and ancient, filled to the brim with all kinds of books. Honestly if Hermione had ever wandered into a place like that, she was sure she never would’ve come out again. 

It was an incredibly relaxing place to be. Libraries had been her sanctuary growing up, as Dudley had avoided them like the plague. The thought of having to sit still, be quiet, and read had been anathema to her cousin, which meant they were a perfect place to her. At Hogwarts tucking herself into a quiet corner with a nice novel had been a luxury she hadn’t been able to afford, what with fighting for her life almost every year.

In this new life she’d rediscovered some of her love for learning, but it wasn’t until those weeks in Hosenka that she rediscovered her love of reading for reading’s sake. She’d gotten so into it that she’d even picked up several pairs of Gale-Force reading glasses to cram in as much as she could, while she had the chance.

It was at the library that she found her next key, tucked in the back of a high shelf, covered in dust and cobwebs. She hadn’t even known it was there until she accidentally knocked it off the shelf and on to the floor while attempting to retrieve a book. Given the state of the key no doubt it had been there for quite some time, so she’d been reluctant, but in the end, she’d reported it to the librarian, who’d kindly informed her that if no one came for it within a week she could have it.

It was an anxious week of waiting, part of her hoping for the Celestial Spirit’s sake that whoever owned it came back for it, but another part hoping to add another Spirit to her family. In the end no one came though, and so she was gifted with Chameleon.

The Spirit had been surprised to be summoned, and was incredibly shy at first, so much so he’d turn invisible the minute he was summoned so that she hadn’t had a clue what he looked like. It had taken nearly the entire journey to Beanstalk to convince him that she really did want him as part of her family, and that she didn’t find his appearance, which was a rather strange mixture of lizard and man, or his fingers, which were sticky and rather bulbous, too off putting.

However, he’d proven both his usefulness and his loyalty as his invisibility had managed to hide them from an associate of Jude’s who no doubt would’ve immediately reported her presence to him, that or attempted to grab her himself, neither of which would’ve been pleasant for her.

Beanstalk was quite a change from the bustling Metro City and Ancient but thriving Hosenka. It had, had a rather quiet, peaceful feel to it despite being a rather large city, with a relaxing atmosphere. The kind where time nearly seemed to slip through your fingers. Horologium absolutely adored it, and had insisted on walking through the famous clock tower several times to admire its parts.

Not that she’d minded, the clock spirit very rarely asked for anything and was always incredibly accommodating to her, so she was perfectly happy to indulge his several visits even if it wasn’t all that interesting to her personally.

Feeling well rested from their stay in Beanstalk she’d decided she’d like to be adventurous and cut through the mountains on their way south. It wasn’t a decision she made lightly, but she’d talked it over with her Spirits and they’d decided together that it should be do able as long as they were careful.

It took some meticulous planning, but the journey was absolutely worth it. The views in the mountains were like nothing she’d ever seen before, and the valleys between were practically untouched by civilization. It might’ve felt lonely if she hadn’t had her Spirits by her side, but with them there she found she was able to truly relax in a way she hadn’t been able to in the cities they’d visited, always on edge that her father would somehow find her and drag her back to the Heartfilia Konzern.

In fact, she’d felt so safe, that she decided to stay for longer than she’d originally planned, only taking a quick trip out to the Mountain Village to restock her supplies before heading back in to the safety of the mountains where she could wait until her eighteenth birthday passed and Jude would no longer have any authority to dictate her life.

While in the Mountains her Spirits decided to give her, her birthday gifts early. Apparently, they’d picked them up while they were in Motor City and had successfully hid the purchases amidst her rather impressive shopping spree.

The first was a silver key called Lyra, the harp. It was a fairly common key, with more than a hundred copies floating around in the world for one simple reason. Lyra was incredibly good at putting people to sleep, including fussy children, and people like her who had chronic nightmares.

It was an incredibly thoughtful gift, one that had moved her near to tears, and she hadn’t been the least bit surprised that it had been Padfoot’s idea, as he’d always been protective of her.

The next had been a bit of a shock. Never in a million years would she have thought to find a golden key for sale, not ever, but apparently it had been, and between Cancer and Virgo they’d gotten quite the deal for it. Taurus, the Golden Bull.

The moment she’d summoned him she’d known he was going to be quite the character, as he’d proceeded to compliment her figure so avidly that she’d been rendered completely and utterly speechless, so much so that she hadn’t been able to find the words to ask if he wanted a contract.

Luckily Padfoot, and surprisingly Aquarius had quickly come to her rescue. Padfoot snarling and spitting about being more respectful to her, and Aquarius hitting him over the head with her urn repeatedly for making her uncomfortable, and for being such a letch.

Taurus, completely brow beaten, with several lumps on his head had apologized, and promised to treat her more respectfully in the future, promising to protect her should she ever call on him. Still it took her a while to feel comfortable in his presence, and her other Spirits kept a weather eye on him constantly whenever he was summoned.

Thankfully it turned out that under the bluster Taurus was a sweet being, if a little overly enthusiastic at times about the female form, though he did quickly learn to keep it more under control when she was around, mostly because Aquarius had given her a stern talking to in Taurus’ hearing about what was and what wasn’t appropriate to say to a lady, and that she should never let any man make her feel uncomfortable or scared. She’d even offered use of her urn in the future should she ever need it to bash disrespectful male heads in.

Virgo, her other female golden key hadn’t said anything at all, but the slightly maniacal grin she’d given Taurus every time he’d so much as blinked in her direction in the week that followed had the Golden Bull flinching back every time he caught sight of it.

In the end she realized he was all bark and absolutely no bite and so became completely immune to his comments, ignoring them completely the same way she ignored Cancer’s strange habit of saying “shrimp” at the end of all his sentences and Virgo’s occasional query about punishment, writing it off as a harmless quirk.

By the time they left the mountains, heading south for the caves her mother had mentioned in her stories, she was in incredibly high spirits. Her eighteenth birthday had passed, meaning Jude no longer had any jurisdiction over her whatsoever, and she had bonded with all of her family members and had some wonderful adventures.

It was probably because of this selfsame high that she wasn’t nearly as careful as she should’ve been heading into the ocean. She’d gotten cocky, nothing truly bad had happened to her in this life outside the one kidnapping incident and it had made her complacent. She should’ve known better, should’ve realized the Potter luck was still present despite her not being a Potter in this life.

After all, how else could she explain being caught up in a riptide current that had dragged her under and into a nest of sea monsters? Worse, by the time Aquarius had managed to get them out she’d been too tired to do anything other than keep Lucy afloat and the two of them had been swept into a series of harsh currents that eventually led to where she was now, literally trapped on an unknown, uninhabited island that was surrounded by deep whirlpools and extremely dangerous rock formations that meant any chance of rescue was practically nil. 

Worse, while Aquarius could probably get herself out, the water bearer hadn’t found a good way to get Lucy out safely with her despite nearly a month of exploration. Normally the Spirit would have thrown an absolute fit at being called so much, but it had been at her insistence as the slightly tsundere spirit absolutely refused to leave her stranded.

Luckily there was no shortage of food on the island. There were several types of bird around and fish was easy enough to come by along with several fruits and vegetables that grew wild, so she definitely wouldn’t be starving any time soon. If it wasn’t for the fact that she was trapped with no real way to leave she probably would’ve enjoyed the place quite a bit.

After all, the weather was beautiful, the beaches warm and inviting so long as she didn’t swim too far out, and food was plentiful. It was almost like paradise, if not for the complete lack of civilization. It was a little boring to be honest, as there was nothing she could really do other than explore and wait for Aquarius to hopefully find a way out for her.

Exploration at least did keep her somewhat entertained, even if the island wasn’t all that big, it did have a small forest, pond and several caves, some of which could only be explored during low tide, which is where she was at the moment, Padfoot trudging faithfully along at her side.

The ground was a bit treacherous, rocky and uneven, slick with water and seaweed and there wasn’t any light except for the lacrima she had in her hand to help keep her from tripping or running into things. The walls were damp and the whole place stank of seaweed and fish. Not surprising considering the cave was generally submerged when the tides were high.

In hindsight, she probably should’ve paid a bit more attention to the time, but she’d gotten caught up in looking at a wall that appeared to have some kind of crystal embedded in it. Both she and Padfoot had been fascinated, and had managed to dig out a few chunks to examine in better light later.

The first indicator she had that something was wrong was the feel of water lapping at her feet, glancing down she let out a curse as she realized the water was already several inches deep and getting deeper by the second, and the only reason she hadn’t noticed was because she was wearing platform heels.

The second indicator was the sudden roar, almost reminiscent of the dragon she’d faced down in the Triwizard tournament, but far more frightening, as there would be no easy escape for her this time, not with water beginning to rush down the cave in torrents, blocking their only exit.

Years of working together meant she didn’t need to speak with Padfoot, simply acted, throwing herself on the canine’s back and holding on for dear life as he launched himself down the tunnel running full tilt in an attempt to escape the rushing torrent, both of them praying fervently that they weren’t rushing to a dead end.

Adrenalin was roaring through her system as she tried to go over what options she might have and realized there were almost none. She’d been too reckless, let boredom get the best of her, and not taken the precautions she should have before entering the cave, precautions like setting an alarm and giving herself enough time to exit before the tide came in, or waiting until she had Aquarius with her and not out somewhere around the island trying to find a way for them to escape, completely out of reach.

Her only real hope was that this cave wasn’t a dead end, that or the end of it got high enough to not be submerged underwater and there would be enough air in whatever pocket they found themselves in to breathe. That at least was somewhat hopeful as it did feel like the ground was sloping upwards.

That hope ended as they hit a solid wall of rock, Padfoot skidding to a stop just in time to keep from careening into it. She could hear the water rushing toward her, panic tightening in her chest as she frantically glanced around, noting, what part of her had already known, they were closed in on all sides.

A strange instinct had her glancing up, and while she couldn’t see well, even with her hastily held up lacrima, she did know the roof of the cave was far enough above them that she couldn’t make it out, even with the light.

“You should go back,” she shouted at Padfoot, trying to be heard over the raging water as she dismounted from his back, “I’m going to have to swim!”

The look he gave her for even suggesting such a thing, spoke volumes about how not willing he would be to allow such a thing. Her dearest friend was almost too loyal at times, and a part of her desperately wished sometimes that he wasn’t. Still there was nothing she could do, no time for discussion as the water rushed into the cave, knocking her hard into the wall behind her, and almost knocking the hastily gulped breath from her lungs.

With the water surging and pulling and pushing all around her she realized that her situation was probably pretty hopeless. She couldn’t tell up from down, and felt as if the water was simply yanking her whatever way it willed, much like the night she’d washed up here on this awful island.

Still she wasn’t about to give up, doing her best to struggle, to push herself in the direction that she desperately prayed was up, and not back into the tunnel the way she’d come from or down. A sudden yank on her hair had her trying to desperately peer through the water, it was of no real use, not when there was no light to be had, or so she thought.

It was only sheer instinct that kept her from gasping and accidentally drowning herself. The walls were glowing. It was that strange crystal she and Padfoot had been examining earlier, that she still had in her bag, lit brightly and warmly, giving the water around her an almost ethereal glow.

A part of her wanted to laugh, or to cry, this was just her luck, but she didn’t have time for that, not when her lungs were beginning to burn from lack of oxygen. Another firm tug on her hair had her glancing up to find Padfoot swimming just slightly above her, a big hank of her hair in his mouth, tugging at it, obviously trying to get her attention and make her start swimming.

It was an order she was happy to follow, putting all of Aquarius’ lessons to use as she began to cut through the water, which was starting to settle after the initial rush and wasn’t nearly so violent. She broke the surface of the water with a gasp, heaving for air as she tried to get her bearings and digest the fact that somehow, someway, she was still alive.

“You alright?” she asked treading water, peering through the dimly lit cavern to the doggy paddling form of her friend beside her.

“I’m fine,” he informed her gruffly, “Though I’m thinking that if celestial spirit dogs are anything like cats then that definitely used up one of my nine lives.”

She let out a sputtering laugh at that, unable to help herself as she tried to get her bearings, noting with some surprise that they were in a large grotto, one filled with the same glowing stone, though she noted it only seemed to glow when it was submerged underwater, giving the cave an eerie rippling look to it as the shadows cast from the moving water played over the rocky faces of the cave.

“Sorry about that Padfoot, I should’ve been more careful,” she admitted apologetically.

“Yeah well you aren’t the only one,” he admitted with a huff, “I’m just glad it worked out okay, and this place is pretty interesting right?”

“It is,” she admitted, glancing around. It was beautiful in a strange ethereal kind of way, but as she glanced around her eyes caught on something promising, “Hey look! Is that a platform?”

“Looks like it,” Padfoot agreed squinting slightly in the direction she’d pointed, valiantly ignoring the water dripping into his eyes, “Good place to rest until the water goes down, save our strength.”

Together the two of them struck out for the platform, but as she approached she noticed something rather odd about it, and as she clambered out of the water she couldn’t seem to take her eyes off it. The anomaly was a platform of sorts, a perfectly circular pedestal set several feet back from the edge of the platform. Curiosity had always been a bit of a flaw of hers, so she immediately went to investigate, Padfoot trotting alongside her once he’d managed to shake himself off a bit. 

“Padfoot,” she asked feeling completely and utterly dumbfounded trying to absorb what she was seeing, blinking several times, and expecting each time when she opened them for the thing in front of her to have disappeared or shifted shape in some way or form, “Is that what I think it is?”

Her loyal companion looked just as dumbfounded as she felt but did slowly nod his massive head. Hands trembling slightly, she carefully picked up the small object resting at the center of the pedestal, her knees turning to jelly and causing her to slump to the floor as she ran her fingers over the edges of the item in her hands feeling its magic hum under her fingers.

It was a key, not just any key either. It was hard to tell what color it was, the distorted and improper light source making things difficult, but what she could see very clearly was the large gem set in the bow of the key, and the tiny dots of light floating suspended inside it, in the shape of a constellation.

“A Crystal Key,” Padfoot breathed, looking both shocked and a little reverent.

“Well I guess we know why no one ever found this one before,” Lucy told him, a slightly hysterical giggle escaping her lips at the thought. 

Padfoot nodded slowly in agreement. It seemed the Potter luck had struck hard once again.

♈️ ♉️ ♊️ ♋️ ♌️ ♍️ ♎️ ♏️ ♐️ ♑️ ♒️ ♓️

The shock still hadn’t faded by the time they escaped the cave system and found their way back on to the beach where they’d set up camp, and listened to Aquarius’ furious lecture on how reckless and stupid they’d been. It didn’t help that Aquarius herself, had been silenced mid-lecture when she’d held the key out to the mermaid like Spirit.

She didn’t think she’d ever seen her friend so caught off guard, sputtering and gaping and flailing about rather wildly, especially once she’d identified the key in her grasp. Cetus the Sea Monster. 

On one hand it was great news, of all the keys she could have randomly stumbled across, this one could almost guarantee their escape from the island. On the other hand, summoning crystal key spirits took absolutely immense amounts of magical energy, and while she’d always been extremely powerful in magic, none of them, not even Crux, could guarantee she’d have enough for Cetus.

Still at that point he was their only option. Aquarius had tried everything she could think of, but there was just no way for her to get Lucy safely off the island, which meant they had to try. After all none of them, especially Lucy, wanted her to spend the rest of her life stranded on the island.

However, they all agreed that she should do some serious training before even attempting it. The situation was serious enough that all her keys temporarily removed any limiters they’d placed in their contracts to allow her to train the way she needed to. When she’d come to the island she’d been able to hold open three of her golden key’s gates open simultaneously for about three hours, which was what Aquarius told her, her mother had been able to do in her prime.

Now though, now the goal was to hold open all five for at least that long. It was incredibly grueling training, especially as Taurus and Padfoot insisted that training her body was just as important, and Crux insisted she also train her mind. That meant she had to hold her Gates open, do physical exercise, and attempt to answer all of Crux’s pop quiz questions and pay attention to his corrections all at once.

It was incredibly draining, and at the end of the day she about passed out from exhaustion, but by the end of October she could successfully hold the five golden gates open for three hours all while they were sparring rather vigorously, Ophiuchus and Aquarius in particular creating rather large and destructive attacks, practically reshaping the landscape of the island, though they were careful to ensure not to destroy anything she might need to survive a little longer in case it didn’t work.

Finally, the day came that she felt ready, despite how hard they’d been working she was impatient to get off the island. She was fully rested and ready and raring to go. All her spirits were in the Celestial realm, even Padfoot as none of them wanted to put any sort of drain on her, which made things quiet, unnervingly so.

All she could hear was the wind as it passed through the branches of the forest behind her and the call of distant birds. She shivered for a moment, feeling a bit hollow. She hadn’t really been without at least one spirit by her side since she’d finally been able to hold Padfoot’s gate open nearly indefinitely, and she found she didn’t much care for it.

Still it was only temporary and was for a good cause. Reminded of her task she carefully took the beautiful key into her hand, taking a moment to study the strange almost blue metal, admiring the tempered pattern that almost looked like waves in the metal, before taking the jeweled bow of it into the palm of her hand. She took a steady stance and brandished the key before her before beginning to gather up her power, pouring everything she had into the summoning, knowing it would probably drain her, but willing to give everything if it would get her and her family off this dratted island.

“Gate of the Sea Monster, I open thee, Cetus!”

The following surge of her magic as it rushed through and around her was nearly enough to take her off her feet, and she was glad she’d been braced, otherwise she probably would’ve been swept away.

She could feel as the gate began to open, but it seemed to open far slower than the others, that were near instantaneous. Concerned that it wasn’t going to open, she poured more magic in, and felt it slowly but surely begin to open wider and wider and wider, even as she felt herself growing weaker.

Just when she thought she might not be able to make it, the familiar sound of a ringing bell sounded across the empty beach announcing the arrival of the Spirit she had called. Unfortunately, her magic continued to drain, and she could sense it was getting to the point where it was dangerous.

Concerned, she tried to stop the flow of magic, but found to her shock and no little horror, that she couldn’t. It seemed as it the Spirit she had summoned, had somehow latched on to her magic and was pulling more and more from her body against her will. More than a bit afraid now she desperately tried to pull what little remained of her magic back to herself, knowing that mages had died before trying to open the gates of the crystal keys and wishing rather desperately that she’d been a bit more cautious.

Still it seemed the magic she’d inadvertently summoned wasn’t willing to let her go so easily. It was funny how much like déjà vu it was to play tug of war with her magic, though she could admit, that at least this time she wasn’t in a graveyard and surrounded by jeering death eaters.

She used the memory to rally herself, pulling hard on her own magic, remembering the determination it had taken, the grit. She wouldn’t allow herself to die here, not now, not ever, not when her Spirits were counting on her, not when her family could potentially end up stranded on this deserted island or at the bottom of the sea never to walk on Earthland again if she did.

With an almighty tug, she managed to finally snap her magic away from whatever had been pulling at it, and immediately regretted it. It seemed like her magic, much like a rubber band, had been stretched too far, and in snapping back it felt like it had hit something, something that had _shattered_ inside her, shattered and sent what felt like millions of shards of glass shooting through her body.

_Pain!_

All she knew was pain. Distantly she could hear someone screaming, and realized rather abruptly that it was her. Her body was writhing and arching out of her control, muscles spasming and twitching every which way.

A darkly amused part of her noted that it still wasn’t as bad as the cruciatus curse, and that this at least was self-inflicted and her own damn fault. The thought helped her force her screams back into her throat as she continued to thrash around, trying desperately to get control of her body and make it stop.

She had no idea how much time had passed, but slowly, bit by incredibly subtle bit the pain began to ease, and she was left panting on the beach, staring up at the sky, noting rather absently that it was filled with stars, meaning it had been at least twelve hours.

Her limbs felt like they were buzzing, and she felt both completely exhausted and wired at the same time as she tried to get her breath and heartbeat under control. Absently her eyes traced the familiar constellations in the night sky, the exercise both calming and reassuring, or it was right until a strange face leaned in and blocked her vision.

She probably would’ve shouted, or jerked in surprise, but her throat was too damaged and her body too weak, as all that came from her mouth was a weak rasp. She was surprised when the face disappeared for a second, and then reappeared a hand appearing in her line of vision showing her an ice cube, that was then pressed gently to her lips.

She accepted it, and embraced the cool relief as it soothed her tongue and throat, eyes never leaving the stranger, who she felt she could trust. Studying his face, she noted his hair, which fell in long wavy tendrils was a deep blue green color, and his eyes were the same color as the ice he’d gently pressed into her mouth, the palest of blues and giving off a strange light.

His skin was pale, almost deathly so, with a straight sharp nose, thin lips and arched brows, his gaze was incredibly intense, though not unkind as he studied her, apparently as fascinated by her as she was by him.

“It is good to see the pain has stopped at last little Mistress,” his voice was a bit like the sound of the sea, and reminded her both of ocean waves and the roaring she’d heard once from a distance during her time in the mountains that the people of Mountain Village had eventually told her was an avalanche. 

She was so caught up in it that it took her a minute to process what it was he’d said and when she did she nearly choked on the remnants of the ice cube in her mouth. Luckily self-preservation kicked in and she spit it out, coughing harshly for a few minutes as the man’s hands, long fingered and as pale white as the rest of him hovered helplessly over her, clear concern on his face.

“Cetus?” she croaked once she managed to get her airways clear again.

“Yes, that’s me,” he affirmed with a nod, still looking incredibly solemn.

“What happened?” she asked feeling more than a bit bewildered.

“You tried to open my gate without having enough magic,” he informed her bluntly, “And then tried to force it when it looked like you might not have enough.”

She winced at that, remembering how she’d practically poured her magic in when she felt the door wasn’t opening as fast as she felt it should have. Honestly that should’ve probably been the first warning sign that she needed to pull back, but then she’d never truly struggled to open a gate she wasn’t contracted to before, and even when she’d struggled to hold open gates while they were training her magic reserves opening a new gate and holding open ones she already knew were two completely different things.

“It should have killed you,” he told her, pulling no punches, “But something strange happened instead. I’m not entirely sure how, but it seems instead of draining all your magic and then your life, you somehow forced open your second origin instead, which gave you more than enough power to call me here.”

“Second origin?” she repeated utterly baffled. In all her relentless studies of magic, she’d never heard of such a thing.

“Normal mages only ever use the one origin, the place where your magic is stored, and that’s generally enough,” Cetus explained slowly, eying her thoughtfully as he clarified, “However sometimes mages open a second origin, a back-up container if you will, so that if the first ever runs dry the second can be tapped into. It’s incredibly painful though, and the circumstances to do so are incredibly rare and hard to accomplish, that you somehow managed it completely by accident is nearly unprecedented.”

Lucy huffed a slightly hysterical laugh and wondered if all the Potter Luck she’d managed to avoid growing up had somehow decided to suddenly manifest itself all at once. Accidentally almost killing herself, only to pull off an unprecedented miracle, was really the story of both her lives at this point.

“From this point on you should have more than enough to summon me at any time, though not for very long if you intend to use me to fight, for all that your second origin is now open, it like your first, will need to grow and develop,” Cetus told her with a slight frown. He’d relayed all this information to her rather gravely and she was beginning to think he was a somewhat solemn individual, “Speaking of which, we should arrange our contract before my time runs out and your magic gets too low.”

“Of course,” she affirmed, her voice still raspy, “When would you like to be called?”

“Whenever is fine,” he told her with a casual shrug and something almost like wistfulness on his face as he explained, “I haven’t gotten to walk on Earthland soil in over a thousand years.”

She blinked at that, taken aback. She’d known that the crystal keys were legendary, to the point where no one could really have said for sure whether they existed or not, but once she’d found Cetus’ key it should’ve occurred to her to wonder just what that might mean for the spirit attached to it.

“Although when you do summon me to fight, I’m much better in the sea than on land,” he admitted pulling her from her somber thoughts, “And also beware that my general fighting form is much larger than this and will need lots of space if you don’t want things to get crushed or destroyed. There is a reason I’m called the sea monster after all.”

“Are there any times in particular you would like to be summoned, or anything too inconvenient you wouldn’t want to be summoned for?” she asked, figuring she should probably clarify.

“Times I’d like to be summoned?” he repeated looking a bit puzzled.

“Aquarius likes to be summoned when we’re traveling by the sea, Crux likes to visit libraries, and Ophiuchus recently went hunting in the Lycan woods with me,” she clarified, feeling her heart go out to him, wondering if he’d ever been called for anything but battle, and figured she should probably explain, “And I won’t make you fight if you don’t want to, that’s entirely your choice. I have several spirits who don’t want to, and that’s fine, family shouldn’t ever force you into situations that make you uncomfortable or unhappy.”

“Family? That certainly is an interesting way to interpret your relationship with the Spirits you summon,” he mused watching her with shrewd eyes studying her for long moments before finally admitting, “I do enjoy a good fight so long as it’s in or near a large body of water, I earned my name of Sea Monster quite fairly. However, if it isn’t too much trouble I would like to swim in this world’s oceans once in a while, and I don’t mind training with you mistress as long as there is water.”

“I can do that,” she agreed cheerfully, “Now that, that second origin is open I should be able to summon you without killing myself right? And you don’t need to call me mistress, just Lucy is fine.”

“You’re a very odd mistress, aren’t you?” he asked tilting his head slightly to the side, still studying her as if she were some kind of rare specimen he’d never encountered before, but before she could comment he continued, “Very well Miss Lucy. It seems our time here is up for now. Until next time.”

With that he disappeared in a shower of golden light, leaving her alone once more on the beach, tired, sore, but still strangely triumphant, even if she got a feeling she’d be getting one hell of a lecture from some of her Spirits later about how recklessly she’d acted. She’d summoned a crystal key spirit.

A hysterical laugh escaped her lips long, loud, and if anyone else had been around no doubt they would’ve thought she was completely insane, it was probably the only time she’d be thankful the island was deserted. Though that thought quickly put an end to the laughter and left her groaning instead.

All that work, all that pain, and she’d forgotten to ask if he could get them off the damn island!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here it is at last! Sorry for the delay, but as some of you may know an inland hurricane called a Derecho swept through Iowa in the U.S. which is where I was, power was out for days, the devastation is unreal and I didn't have the time or the inclination to write.
> 
> On the bright side though, some interesting revelations in this chapter I hope! Lucy has a new tier of keys, incredibly powerful ones at that! I think I've pretty much set what keys she's going to get, but feel free to try to convince me otherwise! I'm also happy to announce that this was the last chapter before canon starts, so that's exciting right?  
> I will be editing the tags though for the next chapter, because I do have some idea where it will go, so be on the lookout for that. I fully intended to make this story much grittier and more realistic than the show, people will die, things that were only hinted at will be explored to their fullest despite how gruesome they were. You've been warned! Though I will warn again at the beginning of each chapter that I feel contains material that may be disturbing to some readers.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **WARNING!** Mentions of rape. The true nature of Vulcans. Some of that gritty realism I promised last chapter.
> 
> Also, please, please, _please_ READ THE END NOTES! I know everyone says that, but it's incredibly important.

Lucy walked cheerfully down the streets of the port city of Hargeon enjoying the hustle and bustle of people as she went. It had been about a month since her rather disastrous adventure, being swept away to a deserted island, finding one of the legendary crystal keys, and then nearly accidentally killing herself trying to open its gate and then opening her second origin.

Luckily it had only taken her about three days to fully recover and afterwards Cetus had been more than capable of getting them off the island, and had been immensely pleased at the chance to do so, as it meant he got to swim around in his natural form for a good long while.

She’d been more than a little shocked the first time she’d seen it, and if she hadn’t already spoken to him, and known in her heart of hearts that he’d never hurt her she might’ve been a bit afraid. It became very obvious why he’d been named the Sea Monster.

She’d studied a few prehistoric animals out of curiosity once or twice in the library, which was how she was able to identify just what it was he was. With a head like an alligator, two sets of flippers, and an enormous shark like body, with rows upon rows of needle sharp teeth the size of an island, Cetus was a Mosasaurus, and an absolutely massive one at that.

Honestly, she’d been more than a bit awed that he’d agreed to carry her off the island, that he’d agreed to help her at all. Cetus himself had been somewhat amused by her amazement, and she thought he might be a little flattered as well. During their trip off the island it had become more than apparent just how much he loved to be out of the Celestial Realm, so she’d made a point to summon him whenever she could, though she always did it as discreetly as possible. It wouldn’t do to accidently frighten people, or for people to find out about him.

The absolute last thing she wanted was for someone to find out she had one of the legendary crystal keys. Things would be bad enough if they knew she had five of the twelve zodiacs, things would get downright dangerous if they knew she’d found something so incredibly legendary. No doubt mages around the world would be after her, either to try to take it from her or to press her into joining their guilds, something she wasn’t entirely sure she wanted, not when she was enjoying her freedom as much as she was.

She made a point to be consistently thankful that Spetto had taught her that small bit of requip magic otherwise she really would’ve been in trouble. As it was, now that she was eighteen and no longer had to worry so much about Jude, she’d made a point to send several thank you gifts home to the staff who’d been so incredibly good to her over the years.

She’d made several stops in small villages along the coast and had picked up all kinds of interesting little trinkets, now that she could safely send things to the Konzern again she didn’t have to limit her spending quite so much, which was nice.

Travelling in the open now was nice too, no more hiding or slinking around. She was a free woman and enjoying it immensely. Or she was right up until someone knocked harshly into her shoulder.

“Hey!” she protested immediately, but was completely ignored as the group of girls continued to rush past her. She couldn’t tell what exactly they were saying, their squealing and general cacophony too much for her to pick out individual words as they seemed to gather at a point not far away from where she’d been walking into a large crowd surrounding someone.

She thought she made out the word ‘Salamander’ but decided it wasn’t any of her business, even if she did think whoever had run into her was incredibly rude for not at least stopping to apologize, especially considering how hard she’d knocked into her.

Turning to walk away it was only a lifetime of quick reflexes that allowed her to dodge out of the way as a group of people rolled by, several girls shrieking in indignation as they beat up on some guy, shouting about Salamander’s again.

Lucy stared. She’d come across some incredibly odd things during her travels, but watching as one of the girls tried to literally take a bite out of the poor guy, while another attempted to strangle him with her thighs as he flailed about rather awkwardly, a bit like a landed fish was actually pretty amusing.

“Now, now I’m sure he didn’t mean anything by it,” a male voice called out, redirecting her attention. The large crowed of females around immediately swooned, and for a brief moment she could see why. Her heart sped up, beating loudly in her ears, warmth flooding her veins, and attraction humming throughout her body. Right up until a low growl rumbled in her ear.

“Attraction magic, charm I think,” the words were like a bucket of ice water dumped over her head, snapping her completely out of her sudden enchantment, a sneer overtaking her face as she saw the man for who he really was, disgust curling her lip.

Charm magics, magic that ensnared the senses like that, were a bit like love potions in her old life. They were completely and utterly illegal to sell, but unfortunately, just like that last life, not illegal to own or create, though at least in her last life, most all of it had been illegal to use as well, which wasn’t true in this one, though at least this world’s version did have a simple cure, knowing about it was more than enough to throw it off completely and generally it only took a small jolt to break it.

“Thank you Padfoot,” she murmured to her ever-present companion, who was currently hiding in her shadow to keep from alarming the townsfolk.

“Here’s my autograph, feel free to brag about me to your friends,” the man with charm magic was saying as she tuned back in to what was happening, noting the guy who’d been getting beat up was now being handed a signed paper. How he’d gotten back into the middle of the crowd she wasn’t sure, but he didn’t look too happy to be there.

He was an odd looking fellow. Honestly, she didn’t think she’d ever get used to the strange hair and eye colors that popped up in this new life. Tonks would’ve fit in perfectly with her bubblegum pink hair. Admittedly the guys hair wasn’t quite that bright, more of a salmon, and he was probably naturally that color, but it still struck her as odd at first glance.

He was also clearly a traveler of some sort, wearing a coat, with a large backpack and sleeping bag on his back, which did pique her interest a bit. The completely unimpressed expression on his face as he stared down the man trying to hand him his autograph struck her as incredibly funny.

“No thanks,” the pink haired guy, told the guy with charm magic, completely dismissing him and turning to go, only to be nearly set upon by the girls again.

She’d been sheltered most of her life, and had spent as little time around people as she could once she was on the run, which meant she only belatedly realized after she opened her big mouth, that she apparently still had a saving people thing as she shouted, “Hey! Back off! Just because he doesn’t want an autograph? That’s a pretty stupid reason to attack someone!”

That of course, immediately drew attention, but it also seemed to have jolted the women under the charm magic out of a bit of their daze some of them looking rather baffled at their own actions as she approached the pink haired guy, keeping a wary eye on the potentially hostile crowd.

“Hey are you okay?” she asked offering him a hand.

“And who are you, beautiful lady?” the creep using charm magic asked, before the poor pink haired guy could speak rocking up close to her, attempting to grab the hand she’d offered the other guy.

“Back off creep,” she sneered jerking away before he could touch her.

She could immediately feel the hostility of the crowd spike, and held her hand out, ready to summon a key to hand the moment anyone took a threatening step toward her, though she kept a wary eye on the guy in front of her, who looked rather shocked by her abrupt dismissal.

“Now, now lovely,” the creep cut in before any of the women could try their luck, “I’m sure you’ve mistaken me for someone else. Don’t you recognize this handsome face? I’m Salamander from…”

“What you are is a disgusting weasel who uses charm magic to make women easier to prey on, it’s pathetic and vile, so get out of my face or else,” she snapped back, and Padfoot, evidently deciding he needed to contribute slipped from her shadow and let out a deep rumbling snarl. She couldn’t see him, but she could feel him standing behind her, no doubt glaring dangerously over her shoulder, teeth bared and ready to pounce the moment the jerk made the wrong move.

‘Salamander’ looked like he was going to wet himself, eyes wide with fear as he scrambled back and away from her and her companion. The women, now alert to his use of charm magic had snapped out of it, and were murmuring rather unhappily to one another, now casting hostile looks in the direction of the man who seemed to realize the crowd had turned against him, glancing nervously around no doubt searching for an exit. Figuring her job was done she turned on her heel and walked away, feeling rather pleased with herself.

“Hey, hey you!” the male voice yelling didn’t even really register until the strange pink haired guy from before landed in a crouch in front of her, making her jerk backward in surprise.

“Are you a mage too?” he asked interestedly, “What guild are you from? I’m Natsu by the way, and this is Happy!”

“Aye!” chirped the aforementioned ‘Happy’ who made her doubletake as she tried to figure out just what the heck he was. He looked kind of like a cat, but apparently walked on his hind legs like a human and had the proportions of a small toddler, not only that but his fur was a rather vibrant blue color.

She had no clue what he might be. Her first instinct had of course been a spirit of some kind, but he didn’t feel like one to her. She’d seen a few somewhat strange creatures in her new life, but she was pretty sure whatever he was he took the cake.

“I’m um Lucy,” she managed realizing she’d been staring rather rudely, not that either the guy, Natsu, or the cat thing seemed to have noticed, “And this is Padfoot.”

Her friend emerged from the shadows once more to stand beside her, eyeing the newcomers with interest. Automatically she threaded her fingers through his fur, a gesture she’d been doing since she was small, one that was soothing to the both of them.

“Whoa, big doggie,” Happy murmured staring wide-eyed up at Padfoot, which wasn’t surprising, not when the bottom of his chest was level with her head, which meant he was probably big enough to step on and squash the tiny cat creature.

Padfoot huffed in amusement, laying his head on her shoulder but not bothering to speak. He didn’t usually bother speaking human language to anyone unless he liked them and felt they were worth the privilege.

“So, you are a mage?” Natsu asked again eagerly, “What guild?”

“I suppose, and I don’t have one,” she admitted reluctantly, though she didn’t have any real reason not to admit it, being a mage was a perfectly acceptable occupation for the most part, though being one without a Guild of some sort was pretty rare, which was why she hesitated to answer. Still she figured it was better to be honest than to potentially get caught in a lie.

“You don’t have a Guild?” he repeated looking fairly shocked, “But why not?”

“It’s complicated,” she told him with a shrug, starting to walk again, hoping he’d leave it at that, not wanting to spill her past to a complete and utter stranger. Unfortunately, it seemed he was determined to talk as he fell into step beside her, so she changed the subject, “What brings you to Hargeon?”

“Oh! I was looking for Igneel,” he told her frowning slightly, “I heard Salamander was going to be in this town, and since a Salamander is a fire lizard and Igneel is a dragon I thought that meant he might be here.”

“I’m sorry, but did you say dragon?” she repeated utterly and completely baffled. She’d read in some of her history books that dragons had once existed on Earthland, but apparently, they’d gone extinct rather abruptly, though no one was exactly sure of why that might be. Once in a while the rumor of a dragon sighting would pop up, usually around large areas of destruction, but no one could ever prove anything, “Like, scaly, flying, fire-breathing dragon?”

“Yep!” Natsu told her apparently unbothered by the complete ludicrousness of his statement.

“So, you expected an enormous fire-breathing lizard to just show up in the middle of a bustling port town and not cause wide spread panic?” she asked skeptically.

Beside her both Natsu and Happy who’d been trotting along beside him froze, clear shock on their faces. Apparently, they hadn’t actually thought it through at all, and she had the strangest feeling that neither of them was the sharpest tool in the shed, though they did seem nice enough.

She felt kind of bad as he sunk to the ground in a cloud of despair, so decided to ask, “Why are you looking for a dragon anyway? Wanting to slay it or something?”

“Not at all!” Natsu popped up surprisingly fast, his face a mask of indignation, seemingly at the very idea that he’d want to slay a dragon, which was what most wizards would want with such a creature, especially as their parts were supposedly extremely magical and valuable, just like in her last life, “Igneel raised me, so I’m trying to find him.”

That statement while as ludicrous as any of the others did catch her attention. For all that what he was saying was completely crazy, something about him made her believe what he was saying. He didn’t strike her as a liar, and so she was intrigued. A dragon raising a human? She’d never heard of anything like that in either life, but now she was curious.

A grumbling roar broke through her thoughts and for a very brief moment she wondered if the dragon they were discussing had actually found them, only to huff at herself for her flights of fancy as Natsu and Happy both sheepishly rubbed at their stomachs.

“Sorry about that,” Natsu apologized with a laugh, “Happy and I haven’t eaten for a while, so we’re pretty hungry.”

“I’ll treat you to lunch,” she offered shrewdly, “If you’ll tell me more about what it was like to be raised by a dragon.”

“Really?” he and Happy asked eagerly, and she could practically see puppy tails wagging behind them in joy despite the fact that Happy was a cat, “You’re so nice Lucy!”

“Uh sure,” she told them, a little taken aback by their enthusiasm, but willing to go along with it, “There’s a nice little restaurant over by the harbor that has some great seafood.”

“Fish!” Happy cheered eagerly, practically bouncing with joy.

Amused she led the way, figuring one way or another she was in for an interesting lunch.

♈️ ♉️ ♊️ ♋️ ♌️ ♍️ ♎️ ♏️ ♐️ ♑️ ♒️ ♓️

She hadn’t been wrong about the experience being an interesting one, though not quite in the way she’d imagined. It turned out Happy and Natsu had table manners that made Ron look like the crème of high society in comparison. Crumbs, bones and napkins had practically flown, as dish after dish piled up on their table.

It was a good thing she had plenty of money, otherwise her poor wallet would’ve probably wept at the sheer amount of food they consumed. Watching them was a bit like watching a horrific accident, so terrible you couldn’t bring yourself to look away.

Luckily Natsu did keep his word about talking about Igneel. However his rambling stories tended to go on even more tangents than Bero’s did and mostly seemed to center around fighting. What little she did manage to discern from the ramblings was fascinating. Apparently, it had been Igneel who taught Natsu magic. Unlike the dragons of her world the ones in this world were fully sentient, and no doubt had a culture of their own, fully capable of communicating with humans, the creatures all had different magics, thoughts and attitudes much like humans.

It had been a bit of a revelation, and had made her curious. When they’d parted ways after lunch she’d been sure to promise that she’d let him know if she happened to come across a dragon on her travels.

All in all, she thought it had been a rather interesting day. Still she hadn’t particularly wanted to stay another night in Hargeon, so had decided to set off down the road, heading along the beach again figuring Cetus might be willing to go out and explore the ocean with her for a while if they got far enough away from Hargeon first.

She wasn’t in too much of a hurry though, simply enjoying the feel of sand between her toes as she walked barefoot along the beach, Padfoot trotting alongside her. The sun had set a while ago, and the night air was slightly chilly, but she didn’t feel like bothering with a jacket. The sky was especially clear tonight, the stars shining brightly, which always made her heart feel light.

Strange as it seemed she always felt closest to her mother at times like these, when the stars were shining brightest. It made her feel warm and content in a way not even the hottest sunlight could match.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a low growl from Padfoot that warned her of incoming presence. She turned only to find not one, but several men, including the one called Salamander working their way over the beach toward her, no doubt hoping they could sneak up on her, an utterly ridiculous thought considering Padfoot’s acute senses, and her own ability to see extremely well in the dark.

“Something I can help you gentlemen with?” she called pointedly.

“You!” the one called Salamander called dramatically brandishing a finger at her.

“Me,” she agreed flatly, interrupting whatever he was about to say next. She got the feeling the man was rather narcissistic and had no intention of catering to his ego.

“Will you shut up already stupid woman!” he snarled, clearly infuriated, “You can’t seem to help but run your mouth can you? Ruining my charm spell and turning those women against me, you’ve interrupted my fishing expedition and for that you’re going to pay.”

“Like you’re one to talk, jabbering on like that,” she countered crossing her arms and keeping her expression bored, knowing it would only piss him off even further and hopefully throw him off his game, even as she tried to keep track of the other men who were trying to flank her.

She didn’t like the way he’d talked about the interaction they’d had earlier. ‘Fishing expedition’ didn’t exactly have positive connotations. Combined with the terrible vibes she got from the man, and she was almost sure he was up to something illegal.

“Get her,” Salamander snarled, and the men charged.

Padfoot immediately launched himself forward surging toward the men in a flurry of teeth, fur and claws, that had several of them falling back in alarm. She herself charged straight forward, taking everyone, including Salamander off guard as he’d no doubt thought she was far likelier to run away than run forward.

“Prominence Typhoon!” Unfortunately, she was far enough away, that despite her rather impressive speed he was able to get a shot off first, as a bolt of purplish fire shot from his chest. It was large, and would’ve been rather impressive, no doubt doing quite a bit of damage if it hit her. But years of fitness training, combined with the lessons from the Rune Knights and her own leftover instincts from dodging spell fire meant dodging a big slow-moving blast like that was a piece of cake.

His men weren’t nearly as lucky, several calling out in shock and pain as the fiery shot hit the beach and exploded, sending burning hot grains of sand everywhere. She’d managed to hit the deck and roll clear enough away that none of it hit her, and she was back on her feet in seconds and closing with Salamander before he’d even really processed that she’d dodged.

Her foot collided hard with his jaw, sending him flying across the beach, and she only wished the sand provided more traction and that she’d been wearing her steel toes boots when she’d done it, but still it was an extremely satisfying hit.

Apparently, the man was tougher than he looked though, because he immediately popped up again, and brought his hands together screaming, “Red Shower!”

There was an immediate rain of bullet like projectiles that took all her effort and concentration to dodge, especially with the sand sliding under her feet, and being thrown up in the air with each hit it took, sending the particles flying everywhere making it incredibly hard to see.

Luckily, she wasn’t in the danger zone long as there was a familiar nudge to the back of her legs, tossing her high into the air. By the time she’d landed safely on Padfoot’s back, in a maneuver they’d practiced hundreds of times, she’d managed to pull out one of the few other things she’d managed to store in her requip space.

Since opening her second origin she’d found she could put more than just her keys there, and had added a few other things she thought she might need immediately at hand sometime in the future, and was rather proud of herself for doing so.

The familiar feel of the leather handle of her whip was a comforting sensation, as Padfoot dodged between the last few shots of Salamander’s attack. She’d never thought to use a weapon before starting her training with the Rune Knights, but one of the females there had pointed out that sometimes it was better to put distance between her and her attacker, especially since as a somewhat petite woman she’d end up smaller than a good majority of her opponents.

Using the whip had taken a ton of practice, but she’d been determined, as it wasn’t a truly lethal weapon unless you were trying to torture someone, and was incredibly versatile in both attack and defense. She’d hit herself with the thing more than she cared to remember, and when she’d been learning with Padfoot, she’d also hit him quite a bit, something that had almost made her give up on it.

Luckily her first Spirit was just as stubborn as she was and insisted on continuing, which meant they’d practiced and practiced and practiced, until they’d gotten it down to near perfection. 

That practice paid off now as Padfoot closed the distance between her and Salamander and she lashed out over his head, striking the man hard across the body and throwing him several feet away putting him on his back. He landed in a perfect position for Padfoot to end a jump right on his back forcing him down into the sand, dangerous teeth inches from his neck and a vicious snarl on his lips.

Apparently, it was too much for the man, who was, as she expected, all talk, as the faint smell of urine filled the air and his eyes rolled back into his head in a dead faint. She sneered in disdain, but did gently nudge Padfoot back and off the man.

A quick glance around showed the rest of the men he’d brought with him had either run away or been incapacitated. Which meant she was safe to dismount, and tuck her whip back into her requip space.

“That settles it!” a familiar voice announced, and she turned to see, to her surprise that Natsu was standing on the beach, along with Happy, who once again made her double take, as the small cat like creature had apparently sprouted two feathery white wings and was flying, hovering in the air around Natsu’s shoulder.

“Natsu? Happy? What are you doing here?” she asked, completely baffled.

“That guy you beat up wasn’t actually Salamander, his name was Bora, but he was pretending to be a Guild Mage from Fairy Tail, as actual Fairy Tail mages we couldn’t let him sully our Guild name so we came to hunt him down, but Lucy was already beating him up!” Happy babbled cheerfully.

“So, you’re from Fairy Tail huh?” she asked amused. She’d heard of them of course, most anyone who lived in Fiore would know the name of the most destructive Guild in the country, though admittedly they were also rumored to be the strongest and most reliable in terms of completing their contracts, which was pretty impressive.

“We are!” Natsu agreed, happily stripping off his coat to brandish the crimson guild mark on the shoulder of his surprisingly muscular arms, one that was very recognizable, “And you should…!”

His words were interrupted by the sound of boots on cobblestone, and she turned to see a large group of army soldiers headed toward them from one of the nearby roads that led down to the beach, no doubt coming to investigate the rather large light show that had been happening as she fought Salamander, who was apparently not Salamander but actually Bora, whoever that was.

“Whoops! No time to talk come on!” Natsu urged, grabbing hold of her wrist in a surprisingly strong grip, and immediately took off down the beach dragging her behind him. He’d caught her so off guard that it took her a few moments to get her feet back under her. 

Padfoot let out a howl of indignation at having her grabbed and took off after them, but she didn’t sense any malevolent intent from Natsu so stopped him from attacking the pink haired mage.

“Why on Earthland are we running?” she demanded, though she didn’t actually stop even as Natsu let her go, too amused and curious to do so.

“Because the Rune Knights would’ve made us stick around forever, and I don’t want to,” he told her bluntly, earning a laugh from her. It was true enough, they probably would’ve been thoroughly questioned about the incident, something she didn’t particular want, even if they could no longer detain her or try to make her go back to the Konzern.

“But where are we going?” she asked curiously.

“To Magnolia!” he told her eagerly, “To Fairy Tail! I want them to meet you!”

That was a bit of a surprise, but well, it wasn’t like she had anything else to do at the moment. She was pretty directionless, going wherever the wind took her, and she’d never been to a Guild or met many different mages before. It was bound to be interesting, and for all she’d only really met him briefly Natsu seemed to be an alright guy, so she had no real reason to protest. 

Besides she hadn’t had real human contact in a while, and while her Spirits were fantastic, in some ways it was very clear that despite their sentience, they were far from human. This would be good for her, she was sure.

“Alright,” she agreed with a grin and a whoop as she allowed Padfoot to scoop her up again, “Magnolia and Fairy Tail it is! Last one there pays for lunch!”

“You’re on!” Natsu shouted eagerly, “Come on Happy!”

She was surprised to see the blue cat sweep down and grab Natsu into the air, and felt a brief moment of envy for the ability to fly, the one thing she really missed from her last life, before shaking it off, and grinning instead.

“Come on Padfoot! Can’t let a blue cat beat us!” she encouraged, earning an eager bark of agreement as they sped off down the road leading out of Hargeon toward what would undoubtedly be an amazing new adventure.

♈️ ♉️ ♊️ ♋️ ♌️ ♍️ ♎️ ♏️ ♐️ ♑️ ♒️ ♓️

“So, this is Fairy Tail,” Lucy mused staring up at the nice-looking three-story building, with bright red roofs and strange pixie like figures with tails emblazoned on a sign that boldly proclaimed the name of the guild.

Natsu didn’t give her much time to absorb though as he promptly kicked in the doors to the guild hall, Happy following, swooping over his shoulder, as he shouted about his return for all to hear.

He was greeted by several people as she looked around. It was a nice space, with several wooden tables, a nice bar at the back, and with an upper floor balcony area that seemed to overlook the main room. The atmosphere was cheerful and lively, most of the people had mugs in their hands, and it had a warm feel to it that reminded her a lot of the three broomsticks from her previous life.

She was broken out of her thoughts by Natsu, who jumped on one of the men near the door shouting something about how he lied about finding Igneel in Hargeon, which wasn’t all that surprising. In the few days she’d been traveling with Natsu she’d discovered the guy was more than a bit impulse driven, honest to the point of blunt rudeness, and often oblivious to the most obvious of social cues, something she thought probably had something to do with being raised by a dragon.

Still he had his charms. He seemed incredibly proud of and loyal to his guild, calling them his friends and family members, and she liked that he was honest. That kind of bluntness no doubt put off a lot of people, but she’d always liked people who could be counted on to tell the truth whether she wanted to hear that truth or not, which Natsu definitely was.

Natsu also appeared to be the epitome of a Gryffindor, reckless and often a little thoughtless, especially when it came to consequences and not thinking things through, but he did always seem to mean well, which was better than a lot of people out there could say about their intentions.

On the short trip on foot from Magnolia to Hargeon she’d decided she liked the guy. For all she’d always been a bit of a snake in the lion’s den, she’d enjoyed being a Gryffindor and had always gotten along well with her house mates.

Watching as Natsu jumping on the guy suddenly turned into a brawl involving almost everyone in the pub like space she couldn’t help but let out a laugh at the familiarity of it all. Gryfindor’s hadn’t exactly thrown fists like this, but they had certainly been extremely rowdy, especially at their parties, and the common room had been trashed more times than she could count or care to remember.

It had been a long time, but it seemed some things never left a person, even when the person was reborn in a new body, and she was able to weave her way through the chaos with complete ease, making her way to the bar and taking a seat next to a busty brunette who was probably a few years older than her wearing a bikini top and capris, nursing a glass of wine.

“Hello,” she greeted casually turning so she could lean her elbows on the bar top and face the chaos happening in the center of the room, knowing better than to put her back to it lest she get a nice concussion from being smacked in the back of the head, “Is this a normal occurrence for this guild?”

“Sure is,” the woman told her with a sigh, but then smirked as she introduced herself, “Cana Alberona, and you are?”

“Lucy,” she introduced with a polite nod of her head, before adding on, unable to help herself, “Do you think that guy knows he’s in his underwear?”

The guy in question was a dark-haired male, a fairly attractive one, nicely built, with a silver cross on a chain around his neck, and his guild mark stamped on to his right pectoral muscle. He was in the middle of calling out Natsu, apparently not bothered at all by his nakedness, though his modestly was at least a bit preserved by the boxers he was still wearing.

“Gray, your clothes,” Cana called out, somehow able to make her voice heard over the ruckus, which immediately had the man in question swearing and looking around for some form of cover.

“That’s Gray,” the woman explained with a sigh, “He has a rather unfortunate stripping habit, doesn’t even notice when he starts taking his clothes off. You’ll get used to it though I promise.”

“If you say so,” Lucy told her doubtfully. That was a really strange habit to have. She’d known people who took their clothes off when drunk, but Cana made it sound like he did it all the time, not just when he was drunk.

“Hello there! You’re new aren’t you?” asked a female voice from behind her, and she risked a quick glance to see a very pretty woman, who was probably Cana’s age with long white hair and pretty blue eyes. She was sure she’d seen her on the covers of magazines before, but had never really bothered to learn the woman’s name.

“Something like that,” she agreed with a shrug, “I’m Lucy by the way.”

“My name’s Mirajane,” the woman introduced with a kind smile, “I man the bar and keep track of mission requests here at Fairy Tail, it’s nice to meet you Lucy! Can I get anything started for you?”

“Any chance you have some iced milk tea?” she asked curiously, keeping one eye on the fight, where a large, hulking man nearly twice as tall and at least three times broader than she was had entered the fray only to be sent flying under the combined fists of Natsu and Gray for trying to interrupt their fight.

“Coming right up!” Mirajane chirped bustling off.

“So what brings you to Fairy Tail?” Cana asked lifting an enormous barrel off the floor, one that she’d thought was decoration, and taking several long gulps from it before placing it back on the ground with a happy sigh.

“I’m not really sure,” she admitted easily enough, “Natsu just kind of dragged me along.”

“Oh dear, I hope he didn’t cause you too much trouble,” Mirajane told her, having reappeared with a glass in hand, passing it over to her. She took a quick sip and sighed in happiness. It was honestly perfect.

“No, it’s fine,” she assured her with a smile, “I didn’t exactly have anything better to be doing, and he made for lively company if nothing else.”

“Are you a mage then?” Cana asked interestedly, all three of them watching as a man with bright orange hair, wearing a dark green jacket and sunglasses with a woman on both arms got knocked out of his seat by a glass to the forehead and decided to join the fray, “I assume you must be for Natsu to take any sort of interest.”

“I am,” she affirmed not seeing the harm in it.

“Oh what kind of…?” Mirajane began but was cut off as Lucy abruptly ducked, just managing to avoid the chair that went sailing past right where her head had been. Unfortunately, Mirajane wasn’t quite so quick and got brained, knocking the poor woman to the floor.

She would’ve been concerned except Cana was laughing, so she figured the other woman was probably okay. People in this world, especially mages, she’d discovered, were far hardier than in her last life, and could take quite a few blows that would’ve put any witch or wizard down for the count.

“Serves her right for not paying att…!” Cana began but was abruptly cut off as black fabric hit her across the face.

It took her a minute, but when she finally recognized the fabric in question she couldn’t help but turn her eyes to the well-built mage, Gray, only to confirm that yes, the fabric now covering Cana’s face were the boxers that had previously been protecting his modesty leaving him fully on display for anyone who cared to look.

She choked, not sure whether she was amused or horrified, but then she felt the build of magic beside her, and turned to see Cana, a rather murderous expression on her face as she dropped Gray’s boxers to the floor, magic building in her hands, no doubt intending to put the man down for the count.

Cana wasn’t the only one either. It seemed several people in the Guild had all hit their limits, magic of all types was building everywhere. Natsu, Gray, the huge white-haired man, Cana, and the one with the orange hair and sunglasses all gathering magic no doubt intending to fire spells off. Briefly she wondered if she should maybe take cover behind the bar, her own hand, the one that wasn’t protectively cradling her tea, hovering uncertainly in the air in front of her, ready to call a key at a moment’s notice, and feeling Padfoot shift eagerly in her shadow, clearly ready too.

“That’s enough you clowns!” a new powerful voice shouted, magic practically saturating the room, forcing everyone including her to freeze.

“Ah Master you’re still here!” Mirajane remarked cheerfully, and she turned slightly in her chair, pleased to see that outside of a slight bump on her head the white-haired woman looked just fine. Though she didn’t take her eyes off the literal giant in the center of the room. She wasn’t sure exactly how she’d missed him before, but she could easily tell, even if Mirajane hadn’t called him Master, leader of the Guild, that he was the strongest mage in the room.

It seemed everybody was pretty respectful of that too, well, everyone except the pink haired idiot she’d travelled with, who once more had missed all social cues and was laughing triumphantly about being the winner of the brawl. Or he was right up until he got stepped on. Her slight inhale of surprise apparently caught the man’s attention, as he immediately turned to her.

“Oh what do we have here? A newcomer?” he asked voice booming throughout the room and directing everyone’s attention her direction.

“Something like that,” she admitted, keeping her voice level and calm.

There was a massive surge of magic, one that had the hairs on the back of her neck standing up, and she felt herself stiffen, preparing for any sort of attack, only to feel her jaw drop in surprise as the giant of a man shrank, and shrank, and shrank, until a withered old man stood before her, one who only stood as tall as her waist, leaving her gaping in surprise.

She’d learned long ago that old mages were the most dangerous kind, Dumbledore and Voldemort had more than proved that to her, and that it was bad to underestimate anyone based solely on their appearance. Still it was hard to reconcile the power she’d felt before with the small man standing before her now, especially as he was wearing a bright orange jacket and shorts, along with a bright orange and sky-blue striped bunny eared hat on his head, the like of which would’ve made even Dumbledore double take in surprise.

“Welcome to Fairy Tail,” he told her cheerfully, “I’m Master Makarov.”

He seemingly felt that was enough of an introduction, because he jumped away, showing surprising agility for a man of his age and stature, doing several backflips up to the second floor that probably would’ve been more impressive if he hadn’t underestimated the height and crashed right into the railings, leaving him to scramble a bit or risk falling back down to the first floor again.

Despite the rather comical maneuver it appeared he was rather well respected as he proceeded to lecture the Guild about how much paperwork he was receiving from the council because of their destruction. The speech he gave not unlike a parent scolding a child. It was all eminently reasonable right up until he shouted ‘to hell with the council!’ burning the papers in his hands and nearly making her choke on her precious tea.

* _“Listen up!”_ the man demanded, effortlessly catching the attention of everyone in the Guild and holding them spellbound, including her, _“Power that surpasses all reason is still born from reason. Magic is not a miraculous power. It is only realized when the flow of energy inside of us and the flow of energy in the natural world come into perfect synch! Magic comes from mental strength and focus- no it comes from your entire soul. Worry about the eyes watching from high above, and you will make no progress in the ways of magic! Don’t let the fools of the council scare you! Follow the path you believe in! That’s what Fairy Tail Wizards do!”_

She took a moment to parse through the words he’d said, as the mages around the Guild hall let out hearty cheers of agreement thinking them over. Power doesn’t come from nothing, it wasn’t a miracle, and takes hard work and an understanding of the world, and that it wasn’t good to spend time worrying about those in authority and the rules set down by society because it would limit your thinking and your understanding, limiting your growth as a mage.

It was a sentiment she could agree with to a point. She’d never particularly cared for authority in either life, as most all the authority figures she’d met had proved unreliable, especially in her first life. It had been a bit better in this one, with her mother, and some of the servants, but even that wasn’t enough to undo a whole lifetime’s worth of independent behavior.

If she was really honest with herself she knew she’d always choose what she thought was right over what any rules or laws might say, it was who she was. It was an attitude that would’ve given poor Hermione heart palpitations, but one she could definitely understand.

“So young lady are you here to join Fairy Tail then?” the man, Master Makarov had evidently come down while she was pondering his words and was now sitting at the bar just a little ways away from her and Cana. The question startled her, so much so it took her a second to gather her wits.

“Ah no actually. I’m here because Natsu dragged me here, though I’m still not sure why,” she admitted carefully, trying not to offend anyone.

“Did he now?” the Master murmured eyeing her with interest, “But you’re a mage right? What is it that you do then?”

“Travel, wherever the wind takes me,” she admitted with a careless shrug, “This time the wind just happened to be Natsu shaped.”

“Isn’t that expensive though?” Cana asked clearly interested, leaning on the bar, a mug of some kind of ale in her hands.

“Not really. We don’t stay in hotels or anything, and we walk almost everywhere and hunt for our food, so it’s no big deal,” she explained, a little uncomfortable under her intense scrutiny but still willing to answer.

“We?” Master Makarov repeated raising an eyebrow, and she realized rather abruptly that she’d accidentally outed herself at least a little bit. 

“Padfoot and I,” she conceded figuring it wouldn’t hurt anything, especially since Natsu and Happy already knew and neither struck her as being particularly good at keeping things secret.

At the acknowledgment Padfoot obviously decided he’d rather not hide anymore, popping out of her shadow and letting out a quiet bark. His timing such that Cana ended up spitting her beer all over a rather indignant Mira, prankster that he was. He then proceeded to place his head on her shoulder and watch the Master, who also looked taken aback before nodding in acknowledgment.

“A Celestial Spirit! And quite a strong one too! That’s a bit of a surprise,” he told her, startling her with his recognition. Not many people did recognize Spirits right off the bat, especially Spirits like Padfoot who looked, for the most part, like ordinary animals.

“Canis Major,” she acknowledged, after a quick glance at her friend to assure it was okay to identify him, threading her fingers through his fur.

“If you’re a Celestial Spirit mage where are your keys?” Cana asked curiously, giving her an obvious once over, clearly looking for them and surprised to not see them.

“Somewhere safe,” she told her with an ambiguous shrug, like hell was she going to let someone she’d just met know any of her secrets if she could help it.

“Is my dad back yet?” asked a young voice, thankfully interrupting the interrogation, and she turned to look. He was as young as she’d suspected definitely a child somewhere between the ages five and eight if she had to guess, with dark purple hair and dark eyes, which were staring up at Master Makarov.

“You keep asking Romeo and the answer hasn’t changed,” the old man told the kid, whose name was apparently half of a rather famous Shakespeare play that didn’t actually seem to exist in this new life, “You’re the son of a mage, so have some faith in him, and stop asking.”

“But, it’s been a week!” Romeo protested, clearly anxious, “And he said he’d be back in three days!”

Lucy raised a brow at that, that was kind of worrying. Admittedly things happened, she should know considering the trouble she’d managed to get into in both her lives, though she would’ve thought he would at least get in contact somehow if he was delayed.

“If I recall that mission was to Mt. Hakobe,” Master Makarov mused aloud a slight frown on his face.

“It’s not that far away!” the kid jumped in hopefully, “Send someone to look for him!”

“Listen kid! Your dad’s a wizard, and there’s no wizard in this Guild who can’t take care of his or herself, so go run along and play ball or something,” the Master shouted clearly aggravated.

It earned him a nice punch to the face from the kid, one well deserved in her opinion, spilling the beer he’d been holding all over the place. She grimaced as some of it splashed on her nice leather boots, making a note to wash them off later lest the smell become permanent. 

Padfoot let out a soft huffing snarl of disapproval as he eyed the guild master like he wouldn’t mind taking a bite out of him. He’d always had a soft spot for children, something he claimed was entirely her fault, since she’d been such an adorable kid.

“Please don’t think too poorly of us,” Mirajane’s voice broke in, eyeing her sadly, clearly reading the disdain written all over her face, “The Master’s really worried too, it’s why he seemed so harsh.”

Personally in her opinion, worried or not that didn’t give him the right to take that out on a child, especially one who was just as, if not even more worried than he was, but she didn’t get the chance to voice that opinion as a loud crunching sound had her jumping out of her seat and spinning to face the sound of the commotion, only to see Natsu stalking away from the wreckage of some kind of furniture, heading out the door, a grim look on his face.

“He’s going after Macao Master,” a man who was wearing both a necklace and belt made of small skulls grumbled unhappily, leaning against the bar next to Master Makarov, who’d picked himself up and had a new mug of beer in his hands.

“He’s such a kid,” murmured a man with buck teeth, “Not understanding a man’s pride.”

“Didn’t I just say?” the Master asked, “No one is allowed to decide the path another man takes.”

“You have an interesting look on your face,” Cana murmured to her eyebrows raised, diverting her attention from where she’d been looking at the two who’d spoken with contempt, “What are you thinking?”

“Do you think it’s because I’m female?” she asked turning to look seriously at the other woman, “That I’ve never understood this ‘man’s pride’ thing?”

Cana looked rather startled at the question, so she elaborated, “Pride in your abilities, pride in your home, pride in your friends and family, these are all things I understand, but for me when someone says something like ‘it will hurt his pride as a man’ I just don’t get it.”

“Whenever anyone says something like that, the word I hear isn’t pride, it’s arrogance or perhaps vanity,” she mused aloud turning her gaze contemplatively to the ceiling, “When they said, ‘it will hurt his pride as a man’ what I heard was he thinks accepting help from anyone is beneath him, even if it leaves his young son without a father, and considering there was no mention of a mother, probably an orphan.”

“Maybe it’s because I’m a woman, but I’ve never seen anything wrong in accepting help from others,” she admitted turning her gaze back to Cana who was watching her wide-eyed, “I’m only human after all, no matter how hard I tried I could never be good at everything. And maybe it’s my own arrogance speaking, but I’ve always thought that being unable to admit you have any weaknesses, is a weakness in and of itself, which is why I can’t help but be scornful of such things.”

Finished talking she hummed to herself, then downed the rest of her drink, turning to look at Mirajane who was also looking at her with clear surprise, but also a glimmer of appreciation in her gaze, “Thank you for the tea, but it seems it’s time for me to leave.”

“Shall we hunt then, my friend?” she asked Padfoot, as she set her glass down on the bar, along with some jewel to pay for it, rubbing at her companion’s ears, and receiving a happy, affirmative woof in response shooting a sly, challenging look at the Master who was watching her over the brim of his mug, “After all we decide our own path right?”

Padfoot huffed his equivalent of a doggy laugh. He always enjoyed when she got snarky, something he’d generally only gotten to see turned on her father, and she stood and stretched easing the kinks in her spine before turning toward the exit.

“Then, let’s go, best catch up with Natsu and Happy hmm?” she murmured as she made her way casually out of the hall, completely ignoring the eyes that were no doubt drilling holes in her back, for having called out several of the Guild members including the Master. Not that she cared. They couldn’t touch her, not with Padfoot there, and not without seeming like terrible hypocrites, pausing only to give Cana and Mirajane a last casual wave before sauntering out the door.

♈️ ♉️ ♊️ ♋️ ♌️ ♍️ ♎️ ♏️ ♐️ ♑️ ♒️ ♓️

Lucy smirked slightly unable to help herself as she watched the usually lively Natsu languish on the seat of the carriage they were riding. From the time she’d spent traveling with him, she knew he was a bit of a tough guy, so to see him brought so low by something so incredibly simple was amusing to her, even if it was kind of mean for her to be laughing at his pain.

“So, you get really sick on any kind of transportation huh?” she asked just to confirm, unable to stop her lips twitching.

“Aye!” Happy confirmed cheerfully as Natsu let out a weak sounding burble, “Anything that moves, boat, carriage, train, doesn’t matter it makes Natsu sick!”

“That must make traveling really difficult,” she sympathized.

“Aye,” Happy agreed shaking his head forlornly though she could see he looked like he was smirking a bit as well, apparently, she wasn’t the only one amused.

Luckily for Natsu the carriage rumbled to a stop and he was immediately on his feet again, apparently magically revived the minute the vehicle stopped moving, practically diving out of the back of their ride, as she and Happy followed at a much more sedate pace.

“I’m afraid this is as far as I can take you,” their coach driver told them solemnly, “And I can’t wait for you either. The hogs wouldn’t be able to stand the cold.”

“That’s okay,” she assured him with a smile, the elderly man had been really kind to them getting them this far as it was. In fact, she hadn’t counted on getting a ride at all, but he’d happened to overhear that they were headed to the mountains to look for Macao and had offered them a ride. 

He felt guilty, as he was the one to commission the job from Fairy Tail in the first place and he hadn’t realized the man was missing. Apparently, he’d already paid Macao, taking it on good faith that the job was done, and assumed he just headed on home without letting him know.

She was just glad they’d run into someone who knew what was going on, as neither she nor Natsu had stopped to ask just what kind of job Macao had gone out on, which hadn’t exactly been clever on their parts, and by the time she’d realized it, they’d been too far away from the guild to turn back without losing a lot of time.

Luckily the elderly gentleman had been able to fill her in as they drove. Vulcans, an extremely large, muscular, ape like creature had been preying on the women of the town, stealing them away into the mountains never to be seen or heard from again. They’d already lost five of them, and had only just been able to prevent them from taking two others.

Of all the new creatures in this new life, she hated Vulcans the most. They were sentient to a point, but all they thought about generally was breeding, and they didn’t seem to care whether their partner was willing or not, or even the same species. More often than not they left human women dead from their drives. It was absolutely disgusting, and so she felt no remorse killing the things.

Unfortunately, they were also extremely tough to take down, built extremely strong and fast, even if they were quite dumb they could take a beating and keep coming, which was why mages were often called in to deal with them, as they were well beyond an ordinary civilian’s ability to handle.

“We’re not sure how many of them there were,” the old man told her guiltily, as he stared at her and Natsu with worried eyes, “Only that there were a good handful of them. Old man Charlie swore he saw at least seven, and that’s only the ones that were trying to take Miss Kate.”

“We’ll be alright sir, don’t worry, and we’ll ensure the job is finished as well,” she assured him. She didn’t actually know what Natsu’s capabilities were yet, but by herself she was more than capable of taking down even twice as many Vulcans as he’d mentioned, Ophiuchus would find that child’s play, and Virgo would enjoy it as well, as she hated Vulcans just as much as Lucy did.

“Thank you miss,” he told her gratefully, taking her hand in his and squeezing it firmly, “Be safe out there, and please let me know when you come back.”

“We will sir, thank you again for the ride,” she replied kindly gently extracting herself and giving him one last wave before turning to find her companion for this mission.

She huffed as she realized he’d taken off without her, a bit annoyed. Luckily with the snow his tracks were easy enough to follow, though she did pause to have Virgo bring her a nice winter jacket. After all there was no point freezing to death in the short-sleeved shirt she was wearing.

Honestly, she was just glad she’d always preferred pants over skirts, and almost never wore them, otherwise she’d have frozen even with the nice warm fur lined leather jacket, that she noted with some amusement was actually lined with some of the wolf pelts from her hunting trip with Ophiuchus in the Lycan woods. Luckily Natsu hadn’t gotten too far away, and he was easy enough to catch up to.

“Aren’t you cold?” she asked a bit concerned as he showed no signs of wanting to cover up despite only wearing an open vest and a scarf, with absolutely nothing covering the skin of his chest or arms. Just looking at him was enough to make her want to shiver from the cold, especially considering the rather harsh wind that was kicking up loose snow all over the place.

Honestly the conditions were rather bad, not surprising considering this was the mountains and it was coming up on December, but it would make finding Macao or the Vulcans rather difficult. Normally she would have Padfoot attempt to track them, as Vulcans tended to smell so badly you would literally smell them coming at times, but unfortunately the harsh snowfall around them meant all senses, including scent would be inhibited, which meant Padfoot preferred to remain in her shadow.

“Cold?” Natsu repeated looking rather perplexed at the very idea, “Of course not! Why would I be cold?”

“Natsu has fire type magic,” Happy explained, apparently understanding her implication far better than his human partner, “So he doesn’t really get cold.”

“Well that’s rather convenient,” she noted, mostly to herself though Happy nodded along as if he wasn’t wearing the equivalent of a fur coat himself.

“Any plans on how to track down Macao, or the Vulcans?” she asked, hoping he had some kind of plan, because with the weather inhibiting Padfoot she didn’t have much of anything.

“Sure I do,” Natsu told her as he continued to walk, glancing around, clearly on the lookout. She was just about to feel relieved and grateful when he turned his head and shouted at the top of his lungs, “Macao! Where are you Macao?!”

It took her a long moment to process the sheer stupidity of this so called ‘plan’ of his and then to get her legs to work, but once she did she promptly tackled the idiot to the ground pressing a firm hand over his mouth.

“What kind of idiot are you?!” she demanded appalled, “Were you not listening to the nice man who brought us up here? There’s a nest of Vulcans around somewhere and your shouting will bring them right to us! And even if that wasn’t a concern avalanches happen in mountains because of things like this! What were you planning to do if the whole damn mountain came down on top of us?”

“Yeesh relax Luigi! I’d just burn the avalanche away, and if Vulcans attack us all the better right? I’m all fired up!” he told her eagerly once she’d removed her hand from his mouth, as if such an answer should’ve been obvious.

“It’s _Lucy_ not Luigi,” she informed him tightly, and you realize all melting an avalanche would do is either drown us or make us freeze to death right?”

“You worry too much Luigi,” Natsu informed her maneuvering himself out of her grip and taking off again down the path they’d been following, “It’ll be fine. Right Happy?”

“Aye sir!” the blue cat thing cheered in agreement happily taking off after Natsu.

She huffed a sigh, realizing that she probably wouldn’t be able to fight him on this, as she didn’t exactly have any better ideas. Besides she was pretty sure if he did cause an avalanche Virgo would be able to protect her, so she wasn’t too worried.”

“Fine _Natsumi_ ,” she retorted annoyed that he’d once again refused to call her by her actual name, “But if you get your ass buried by an avalanche don’t come crying to me.”

Natsu looked surprised for a moment, but then shrugged and laughed before continuing up the path stopping intermittently to call out for Macao. However, she was pretty sure the man himself wouldn’t answer. The weather was becoming more and more hostile, and she wasn’t sure what kind of mage Macao was, but she did know that it would be incredibly dangerous for anyone who wasn’t like Natsu and immune to cold to be out in it.

Honestly a part of her was more than a bit worried that if they did find anything it would be a corpse, especially since even with their rather impressive speed of travel it had still taken them a day to get there, and while that may be pessimistic of her, a part of her knew that that was better than nothing. It was better to know then to spend the entirety of your life wondering, something she definitely didn’t want for the poor kid waiting back in Magnolia.

She was so caught up in her thoughts she almost didn’t notice the movement of a shadow above her, and it was only Padfoot’s warning growl that saw her ducking and rolling in time to avoid being landed on by the very prey they were looking for.

It was very clearly a mountain Vulcan, with short, dense white fur interspersed with patches of grey that made it nearly invisible in the falling snow, with a cone shaped head, monkey like face, and strange protuberant chin, along with heavily muscled arms and torso, there was no mistaking the creature. The fact that it stank of blood, urine, and rotting meat did nothing but confirm her suspicions.

Padfoot was immediately between her and it, giving a loud threatening bark that instantly had Natsu’s attention. The creature had been so quiet in its attack that he hadn’t even noticed.

“There you are Vulcan!” Natsu shouted, launching himself at the creature. She was once again taken aback by the sheer idiocy of this plan, but considering what happened last time she protested she decided it was better to sit back and wait, though she did have a whip in her hands. 

This though was not the hard leather she’d used on the fake Salamander in Hargeon, no this was something completely different even if it did have the same name. It was a chain whip, heavy and far deadlier than her leather one could ever be. She’d learned early on that while it might sting them some to do real damage to Vulcans you had to use something heavier.

It was actually Virgo who’d taught her to use this particular weapon. The maid like celestial Spirit was shockingly adept with the chains around her wrists, and had made a very patient teacher. Swinging the chain around in a smooth steady circle she kept an eye on the fight but was content to let Natsu take the lead for now.

She was more than a little surprised to see that despite Vulcans being dangerously strong Natsu was actually holding his own fairly well meeting the creature punch for punch, and that was before he lit his hands on fire.

She could literally feel the heat coming off in waves, and see steam rising as snow around the squabbling pair melted and evaporated. It was all rather impressive especially when he managed to pin the Vulcan down with his hands around its neck clearly willing to choke the life out of the thing, hands sizzling in its fur, which only added to the terribly pungent odor of the thing.

“Where is Macao?” he snarled at it, which she thought was rather pointless, Vulcans weren’t exactly the brightest, though this one did seem to figure out it was in danger of losing its life as it stilled staring wide-eyed at Natsu.

“Macao?” the thing repeated stupidly, looking rather dazed, not surprising considering she’d seen Natsu hit it fairly hard in the back of the head.

“Yes, Macao! Where is he?” Natsu snarled, using his grip on its neck to shake the thing.

“Natsu, the thing probably doesn’t know who that is,” she pointed out reasonably, “Ask it about a mage maybe?”

She immediately regretted speaking at all, as the thing did its best to twist in Natsu’s grasp, drool leaking from the corner of its lips and a predatory smile on its face as it asked, “Woman?”

Padfoot let out an enraged snarl, but didn’t need to do much else as Natsu proceeded to remind the stupid thing of his presence. The yowl the thing let out as the stench of burnt fur reached her again was somewhat gratifying.

“Where is the mage?” Natsu demanded now that he had the thing’s attention again, “The man who came here last, dark hair, big shiny necklace, where is he?”

“Mage?” the thing repeated though at least it sounded at least a little thoughtful instead of entirely stupid this time, before a rather wicked smile came over its face, and it answered, “Man? Only man, dead man.”

Natsu let out an enraged snarl, and a sharp cracking sound echoed through the air. It was such a surprising reaction from someone who’d seemed so easy going that it took her a minute to come to terms with it, especially since snapping a Vulcan’s neck with your bare hands was no easy feat.

“Sorry,” Natsu told her apparently noticing her gaping and taking it the entirely wrong way, looking more than a little concerned, as he held his hands up in a carefully nonthreatening way, stepping away from the downed Vulcan and putting space between them as Happy looked anxiously on, “I know I shouldn’t be so violent. Humans don’t just kill things like that, but I promise I’m not dangerous, I wouldn’t hurt you Lucy I promise!”

“Natsu, relax,” she ordered, gently but firmly, “I’m not in the least bit upset that the thing is dead, or the manner you killed it with. Creatures who enjoy raping women to death deserve to be exterminated. I’ve killed more than a few myself and in far bloodier ways than simply snapping his neck.”

Admittedly that was because there was no easy way for her to take down a Vulcan like that, not if she was the one fighting it anyway, though admittedly if Ophiuchus got involved it was pretty quick and easy.

“I’m glad you killed it,” she continued with a grim smile, “If I’m really honest I thought I might have to talk you into letting me kill the thing, and not sparing it out of some misguided sense of mercy. This thing and its friends have already killed five women, and would kill more if allowed to continue freely, so I wouldn’t have been able to let it walk away no matter what you might’ve tried to say. I’m glad I didn’t have to.”

“Ah I’m glad you think so too Lucy!” Natsu told her cheerfully bounding toward her happily now that he’d been assured she wasn’t afraid, “Igneel always told me enemies and prey should always be killed to not leave anyone who’s tried to hurt you at your back, but the Guild doesn’t like that so much, apparently humans think killing is bad, not like dragons, so I do my best not to kill humans or anything that can talk to me.”

She hadn’t really thought too much about what it might mean to be raised with dragon ideals, and how it might clash with human society. It didn’t surprise her at all that dragons were ruthless in dealing with any potential enemies, they were carnivores and top predators after all, and if she was really honest it was a philosophy she could get behind, and one Moody would’ve been proud to uphold.

Still it would’ve had Dumbledore cringing and giving both her and Natsu severely disappointed looks. He’d been all about redeeming people who tried to hurt others, and while she could get behind that to a point he’d taken it way too far. 

That and killing anyone for even potentially minor infractions would probably not only make you a lot of enemies, but in the real world also get you arrested, so giving Natsu that kind of limit was probably a good idea even if there should be some obvious exceptions to that rule, Vulcans certainly being one of them.

“Master says it’s a good rule of thumb, so I try really hard to stick to it, but the stupid thing made me really angry,” he explained sheepishly rubbing the back of his head before wilting slightly, “What it said about Macao – I- shit! How are we going to find him now?”

“You think you can track this thing back to where it came from?” Lucy asked Padfoot as Natsu proceeded to have a slight meltdown, one she ignored as it was a bit overly dramatic. 

Padfoot cringed at the request, no doubt from having to track down Vulcan stink but did accede to the request, gesturing for her to hop on so they could move more quickly and hopefully find the trail before the falling snow obliterated it.

“Come on Natsu,” she called impatiently, “Padfoot can track this thing back to its lair, hopefully we find that, we find Macao, at the very least we find more Vulcans who might have answers for us, but either way we need to move before the trail literally goes cold.”

“He can do that?” Natsu asked immediately pulled from his depression about killing the Vulcan before getting a proper answer from the thing about his guildmate.

“Of course, he can, Padfoot’s a fantastic tracker,” she assured him, patting the dog underneath her affectionately, hiding a smile as he puffed out his chest in pride, “So you and Happy had better keep up!”

“You won’t lose us,” Natsu assured her with a wide smile, “We can more than keep up right Happy?”

“Aye sir!” the blue cat cheered in agreement, swooping over to Natsu, clearly ready and raring to go.

“Alright let’s do this,” she affirmed with a grin, “Your lead Padfoot!”

With her oldest friend on the case they continued their trek upwards. Unfortunately for all Vulcans were dumb they were also incredibly agile, which made maneuvering to follow the trail rather difficult at times. Happy’s ability to fly and Padfoot’s own ability to meld into shadow to pass through narrow spaces came in handy more than once.

The trail they followed seemed to go up, and up, and up, surprising her with how high it went. She was lucky she’d spent so much time in mountains otherwise the thin mountain air might’ve become a problem. Luckily it seemed Natsu and Happy were both equally unaffected or they would’ve struggled a fair bit more than they did.

She’d just started wondering just how much higher the particular mountain they were climbing was, when she spotted it, a cave, cut close to the top of the mountain, as they got close the wind began blowing in their direction leaving them downwind, and affirming her suspicion even as she gagged and nearly lost her lunch. This was definitely where the Vulcans had denned down.

“Natsu lets…” she cut herself off with a sigh as she realized she was talking to empty air. She’d intended to send Chameleon in to scout things out, but apparently hadn’t been quick enough as Natsu, true to his completely Gryffindor personality had already charged right in, letting out a battle cry as he breached the cave, Happy right on his heels.

Feeling a bit like she might owe Hermione an apology if she happened to stumble across her in the afterlife for her and Ron’s reckless behavior over the years, and for not listening to her plans she heaved another sigh.

“We should probably go after the idiot huh?” she asked Padfoot, who looked entirely too amused by the whole thing, though he did huff his agreement out.

The two of them approached at a much more sedate pace, carefully keeping an eye out, not wanting to be jumped from behind. Walking through the cave it quickly became pretty obvious that another mage had been there before them. Using magical energy, especially powerful magical energy left traces in the air that if you were sensitive enough could be felt for a time afterward before they dissipated into the air. 

Closed spaces like this held traces really well as there was no wind or weather to disperse them, and she’d always been extra sensitive to this kind of thing, probably because the magic in this world, for all she’d gotten used to it, grown to love it and accept it as part of her, still felt different, strangely alien, compared to the magic she used in her last life.

Each magic user also felt very different in this world, likely because everyone used their abilities differently, which meant that while she could tell whatever mage had come before her was a fire mage, she could also tell it wasn’t Natsu, as she’d felt his magic earlier when he’d used it to fight the Vulcan on the mountain side.

Not that she would’ve needed that to know a fire mage of some sort had passed through, not with several Vulcan corpses littering the pathway that led deeper into the cave, all of them sporting deadly burns, some of them nothing but ash and bone. Considering the body she’d seen near the entrance, one practically frozen over in ice, grey with death but sporting a full head of long bright red hair that she hadn’t been able to bring herself to look to closely at she felt nothing but vindictive satisfaction at seeing the Vulcans dead by a fire mage’s hands even if that sort of death would doubtless be excruciating for a creature adapted to cold.

Her only concern was that the fire mage who’d dealt with them hadn’t been able to finish his task, and had eventually fallen victim himself. A small part of her had hoped to find no sign of his presence with the Vulcans as it meant he could still be safe, just lost, but it seemed that wasn’t the case.

Judging from the one they’d run into on the mountain side and sounds of Natsu shouting, along with the waves of heat that were no doubt fire spells that wafted down the corridor bringing the terrible stench of the cave with it, the Vulcans hadn’t been eliminated, which didn’t bode well for the other fire mage’s survival.

Grimacing she forced herself to look closely for any human remains that might be the mage they were searching for, letting Padfoot keep an eye out for any potential enemy that might’ve slipped past Natsu. To her relief they reached the main cavern without seeing either of those things.

The relief was short lived though as she watched a slightly scorched Vulcan, one twice the size of the one they’d met on the mountainside and probably the leader of the pack of Vulcans as they tended to congregate around the strongest much like wolves, push Natsu out of a hole in the side of the mountain.

He fell with a shout, the prolonged cry letting her know it was quite the drop. She probably would’ve been afraid for his safety except a blue winged blur immediately dove after him. Hopefully Happy would be able to slow if not stop his fall, but that did leave her with the Vulcan by herself.

She couldn’t use Ophiuchus here, as one, the snake definitely would resent being called for a single Vulcan no matter how big, and two there wasn’t a whole lot of space to call him out in, which would make things incredibly uncomfortable.

Which was why she was reaching for Chameleon’s key, more than happy to play assassin with the dumb thing, sure that between Chameleon’s ability to keep her invisible and Padfoot’s ability to hide in the shadows they could kill the thing no problem, even if it did take a few hits to bring it down. Unfortunately, that plan was immediately discarded as a rather unfortunate misstep on her part led her to a large bit of ice cracking beneath her foot and directing its attention right at her.

“Woman!” it cheered, beaming at her, a predatory, dangerous look on its face, hands outstretched, drool beginning to leak from the corner of its mouth, as it launched itself at her.

Luckily, she’d always been quick off the mark and this time was no different as she pulled a familiar key from her requip space and called the spirit out, familiar enough with her by now that she didn’t even need to bother with words, only needed to pump magic into the key to let the spirit in question know she was needed.

Virgo appeared right on cue, and managed to smash chains attached to the manacles on her wrists right into the creature’s face, sending it tumbling to the ground howling in pain and rage at the large gashes opened up on its cheek and right arm.

“Shall I punish it princess?” Virgo asked a smile on her face that was almost maniacal, more of a baring of teeth than a smile.

“Take the other side while I get this one?” she requested, pulling her chain whip back out from requip space after returning Virgo’s key, and twirling it dangerously overhead.

“As you wish princess,” her friend conceded slipping underground for a minute and before reappearing on the Vulcan’s other side.

“Another woman?” the Vulcan questioned, glancing back and forth between her and Virgo, rage forgotten at the sight of another female, though there was a bit of hesitation on his face despite the clear lust in his features as he eyed the chain both of them were twirling. Apparently this one was actually a little bit intelligent on top of being big, which meant he was no doubt the leader of the group that had been denned up here and would need to be disposed of with extreme prejudice.

It took him a second to decide who to lunge for first, but apparently, he remembered Virgo hitting him before, and decided she would be better prey. It was a mistake on his part as, while she may not be as strong as a Celestial Spirit, she had Padfoot on her side.

Her canine companion launched himself out of her shadow and latched on to the Vulcan’s leg, leaving a deep bite at the same time as she lashed out with her chain catching its left forearm leaving a deep gash, splattering blood all over the ice that would make footing tricky for the creature.

It was incredibly quick though, and tough as not even a second later it launched itself at Virgo, only to receive another lashing for his trouble. It paused then to eye both her and Virgo warily, pressing a hand to the biggest gash in his arm to slow the bleeding, which was far more than she’d ever thought a Vulcan capable of.

She frowned as her instincts screamed at her that something was wrong, though she wasn’t sure what it was exactly. It didn’t stop her from lashing out with the chain again as he tried to make a grab for her, but it did mean she didn’t hit nearly as hard and it only stumbled instead of being launched back like before.

“Princess?” Virgo asked concerned from her place behind the thing, as it turned all its still formidable attention on her, no doubt thinking she was weakening as she hadn’t hit it as hard.

“Something’s wrong with it,” she called, managing to dodge the creature’s lunge as Padfoot reminded it of his presence by taking a nice bite out of its arm this time, getting a good enough grip that when he shook it she heard bone snap before a blow to the head forced him to let go.

“Seems fine to me,” Padfoot snarled shaking his head slightly clearly a little dazed but still fighting fit, “You know other than the fact that we haven’t killed it yet.”

“Since when are Vulcans this smart?” she demanded even as she dodged another lunge, realizing too late that she’d been herded.

It immediately dashed by her, leaving her, Virgo, and Padfoot all gaping after it for a moment before she shouted, “And since when did they start running away? Don’t let it escape!”

Virgo, quicker off the mark than Padfoot, who was still a bit dazed, dashed forward, and she quickly followed, Padfoot on her heels. Luckily Virgo was incredibly quick, combined with the wounds they’d dealt the creature meant they managed to cut it off before it got too far, earning a growl of frustration that sounded far too human to her ears.

“Alright I concede, something is definitely up with it,” Padfoot acknowledged as the edges of the Vulcan almost seemed to blur for a moment before sharpening again.

“Orders princess?” Virgo asked even as she continued to block the creatures attempts to get past her.

“We need to either knock in unconscious or restrain it, both if we can,” she told her immediately changing the plan, “I need to get a closer look at it, and I don’t want it to be able to move an inch while I do it.”

“As you wish princess,” Virgo conceded, clearly a bit unhappy with her orders, but willing to go along with it anyway, pulling a new pair of manacles out, the next time the creature lunged at her, she darted in between its hands, managing to slap a cuff on each wrist, before sliding through its legs and popping back up next to her, though she nearly got yanked off her feet for her efforts, and only a quick grab by Padfoot, who braced himself against the maid like spirit’s front to keep her from falling and being dragged along after the Vulcan who, seeing the way clear had made a bid for freedom.

Luckily the combined strength of Virgo and Padfoot saw the thing pulled off its feet instead, landing firmly on its back, the wind knocked clean out of it. It flailed for a second, its form becoming indistinct for a second, shrinking and growing in a way that no doubt would’ve made the manacles slip from its wrists if they’d been ordinary manacles. It seemed to her relief, that they weren’t though, as the cuffs shrunk then grew again to fit the Vulcan’s wrists, apparently, they were magic of some sort, though why Virgo had magical resizing handcuffs she wasn’t sure she wanted to know.

Upon seeing it didn’t work, the too intelligent Vulcan immediately tried to surge to its feet. It might’ve worked to, but unfortunately for it Natsu chose that exact moment to reappear, launching himself past her with a battle cry that nearly had her jumping from her skin, startled at his sudden entrance.

He immediately tackled the thing hard to the ground, accidentally ripping the chains from poor Virgo’s hands, and sending both the Maid like spirit and Padfoot who’d been in front of her tumbling to the ground.

Fortunately, it seemed there would be no further damage as the tackle managed to knock the creature’s head hard against one of the rocks, knocking it unconscious at last, leaving Natsu staring at it in disappointment and shock.

“Natsu,” she snarled unable to help herself even as she tried to remind herself, that she was dealing with an impulsive idiot, “What the hell did you think you were doing?”

“Defeating the Vulcan?” he asked hesitantly from where he was still sitting on top of the thing’s chest, fist raised to hit it again, no doubt hearing the fury in her tone.

“You defeated your own allies along with it,” she snapped gesturing to Virgo and Padfoot who were still on the ground looking rather dazed, “We had that under control! You could’ve really hurt someone!”

“Whoa! Who are you?” Natsu asked apparently just noticing Virgo for the first time.

The spirit didn’t even bother to look at him, instead turning to her and asking, “Orders princess?”

“Restrain it,” she complied immediately, knowing the pink haired spirit was on edge and would feel better given orders, “Make sure it can’t move a muscle.”

Virgo immediately moved to do as ordered shoving Natsu none to gently out of her way as she did so, leaving him to sprawl with an indignant yelp on the floor of the cave, still looking rather nonplussed.

“Virgo is a Celestial Spirit, and one of my closest and oldest friends,” she told him, taking pity on him, “I summoned her here from that realm to help me with the Vulcan to ensure it didn’t escape.”

“You’re a holder mage Lucy?” Happy asked curiously, the little blue cat having perched carefully on a rock spire, wings out for balance.

“I am,” she confirmed, seeing no harm in it, especially since his Guild Master had already outed her, “I’m a Celestial Spirit Summoner. I form contracts with different spirits who agree to become my friends who come to my aid when I summon them.”

“Whoa! That’s neat!” Natsu told her apparently recovered completely as he bounced up from the ground, “Not as neat as mine, but still really cool!”

“Thanks?” she asked unsure whether to take that as a compliment or not, before realizing they’d gotten way off topic, and moving hastily back to it, “But the point is, that you barged into a fight that I had handled, and could’ve hurt Padfoot or Virgo! Be a little more careful would you?!”

“Ah sorry,” he apologized immediately, “I was just so angry that it tricked me into thinking it had Macao and then pushed me off the mountain that I didn’t think.”

“Just be a little more careful in the future,” she told him with a sigh, unable to stay mad in the face of the sincere apology, gratified that he’d made it. A lot of mages wouldn’t have, disregarding her spirits as anything but tools, which always made her phenomenally angry. Her keys were her friends and closest family. They weren’t a tool or a toy, and had thoughts and feelings that should be respected just like any other peaceful sentient creature.

“I’ll try,” he told her sheepishly rubbing the back of his head, “But I tend to get caught up and go all out whenever I fight. It’s dragon instinct you know?”

“Dragon instinct?” she repeated a little caught off guard. She’d known he was raised by a dragon, but wasn’t that taking it a little far?

“Natsu’s magic type is actually called Dragon Slayer magic, Fire Dragon Slayer to be more specific,” Happy explained, “His dad Igneel gave it to him. It gives him his abilities with fire, makes him stronger, and gives him some of the same instincts and drives as a dragon!”

That was a lot to process, but it did make a great deal of sense too. She’d never heard of Dragon Slaying magic, but that didn’t make it out of the realm of possibility. If there was one thing she’d learned from her last life that carried through to this one it was that anything was possible, and to never discount anything no matter how outlandish it might seem at first.

She wasn’t sure what to say to the revelation about Natsu’s magic, but was saved from having to try as Virgo piped up, “Any further orders princess?”

She glanced over at her friend and felt her lips quirk with amusement as she found the Vulcan wrapped head to toe in chains, feet, arms, and neck thoroughly anchored to the floor along with what looked like a blindfold and some sort of gag that she wasn’t going to question lest she be scarred for life.

“Keep an eye on it for me Virgo? I need to summon grandpa Crux and see if he has any answers for us,” she requested with a smile.

“Of course, princess,” Virgo acquiesced with a smile turning her gaze toward the still unconscious Vulcan, the look on her face making both Natsu and Happy squeak in fright and carefully shift out of her eyeline.

Humming slightly in amusement, she pulled the key she needed, and gently touched it with her magic. Luckily it was day time as grandpa Crux didn’t like being called at night, claiming old men like him needed their rest.

“Hello princess,” he told her an amused smile on his face as he noted Virgo watching the chain wrapped Vulcan intently, “You had a question for me?”

“Whoa! Who’s that?” Natsu demanded, crawling over into her space and examining the spirit, swiping his hand in the air beneath Crux, who was as usual floating cross-legged midair, “He floats!”

“This is Crux,” Lucy explained patiently, amused by Natsu and Happy who were both gaping in awe, “He’s an extremely knowledgeable spirit, so when I have a question I always ask him first, because even if he doesn’t know the answer he can usually find it for me.”

“Do you think he can find Macao?” Natsu asked eagerly, clear hope in his voice. 

She winced guiltily as she realized in her shock at finding a smart Vulcan she’d forgotten about the mage they were supposed to be rescuing, though in her defense, if they were going to get answers about Macao, their best bet probably was with the one monster who’d shown a modicum of actual intelligence.

“No, but he might be able to help us get the Vulcan to tell us where he might be,” she admitted, though at this point she wasn’t very hopeful for the man, not that she was going to tell Natsu that just yet. After all it wouldn’t do to give up hope until they got some actual proof the man was dead, and for Natsu’s sake along with Romeo’s she would do her best to keep hold of it.

“Ah okay,” Natsu agreed, clearly confused but conceding to her.

“Crux what can you tell me about Vulcan magic?” she asked figuring it was best to get right down to business. The grandfatherly Spirit frowned slightly casting a worried glance at the creature they’d tied up, one that told her that he probably wasn’t going to have good news for them.

“The only magic I know of that Vulcans sometimes possess is Take Over magic,” he admitted reluctantly, “It’s rare, but sometimes in order to cling to life a Vulcan can take over a mage, especially if that mage has been weakened too.”

Lucy cringed slightly at the thought. Take Over magic was actually a pretty controversial type of magic, a bit like the possession magic Voldemort had used on Quirrell her first year, it allowed a mage to essentially jump into another creature’s body and take it for their own. It was actually a pretty dangerous practice as the mage in question had to be stronger than whatever it was they were taking over, much like the Imperious curse it was a battle of mental willpower, otherwise they’d lose complete control, and the body they were occupying was liable to go on an uncontrollable rampage, unable to recognize friend from foe and simply destroying everything in their path.

This normally had fairly devastating consequences as Take Over mages, the strong and ambitious ones anyway, tended to go after fairly dangerous creatures in order to make themselves useful. They didn’t have much of a choice as using take over on humans, which would’ve been the only other option, was both extremely difficult and extremely illegal, carrying a death sentence for any Take Over mage that tried it. Not even extenuating circumstances were forgiven like if they were attempting to stop a dark mage, they’d still be put to death because Take Over magic literally obliterated and absorbed the souls of the person or creature that was being taken over when it was done properly.

Lucy glanced at the unconscious Vulcan a sinking suspicion in her gut. The Vulcan had been smart, too smart, and it had shrunk some, almost down to the size of a man. With no body for Macao, and no lead on his whereabouts, it wasn’t hard to put two and two together.

“Is there any way to undo or stop a Take Over,” she asked solemnly.

“I’ll have to look,” Crux told her, immediately catching the implication. She nodded in agreement and he fell into his trance.

“Ah! He fell asleep!” Natsu shouted in clear surprise. Unfortunately, not even the fierce sense of déjà vu, the memory of her own reaction to Crux using his magic for the first time, could lift her mood, not when what Crux was looking for was so very important.

“No, it just looks like he did,” she assured her pink haired companion, “He’s researching how to undo a Take Over.”

“Take Over?” Natsu repeated, and it became very clear he hadn’t been paying attention at all as he asked, “What does that have to do with finding Macao?”

“Natsu,” she tried to explain, reluctant at having to do this to him, but knowing there was no other choice, “Natsu, Vulcan’s use Take Over magic, and that Vulcan, I saw it change shapes. I didn’t get a good look, but it was vaguely human shaped. It was also too smart for a Vulcan, and didn’t behave in the way species are known to. If I had to guess I’d say that Vulcan has Taken Over a human, and the souls are merging.”

“I see! So you think maybe it took over a human and if we can fix them maybe they can tell us where to find Macao!” Natsu reasoned, and she wasn’t sure if he was just completely in denial, or just actually that dense.

“Natsu,” Happy told him solemnly, thankfully breaking in, saving her from having to bluntly burst his bubble, “She’s saying that she thinks maybe that Vulcan is Macao.”

“You’re joking!” Natsu protested immediately, “No way would Macao let a Vulcan use Take Over magic on him! He’s too strong for that!”

“Look, I don’t know Macao, but I can tell you a fire mage came through here before we did, is Macao a fire mage?” she asked as gently as she could.

“He is,” Happy volunteered when Natsu refused to answer jutting his chin out stubbornly.

“Then unless another fire mage just happened to come through here very recently we have three options that I can see. One, is Macao was forced to leave the job unfinished and is out there somewhere, where we’ll need to find him. Two, Macao got in over his head, even the strongest of Mages can eventually be overwhelmed if the numbers are big enough, and I saw at least fifteen Vulcan bodies on the way in, and I wasn’t paying too close attention so there might have been more. That’s a lot for one Mage even a strong one, so he got tired and surprised and got taken over.”

“No,” Natsu protested immediately, shooting the idea down with a hostile look in her direction, “You don’t know Macao, you don’t know Fairy Tail wizards! We’re not like you! We don’t just give up and we definitely don’t lose not ever!”

“Nobody’s perfect,” she informed him reminding herself to keep her temper, not the least bit pleased that he was taking his denial out on her, but understanding it wouldn’t be an easy concept to swallow, “And everyone makes mistakes. A lot of times determination and guts will pull you through, but sometimes it isn’t enough!”

It was a lesson she herself had learned the hard way. After all no matter how determined she was it hadn’t stopped her from dying at eighteen, her body too beaten down by years of neglect and dark spells to keep going no matter how much she willed it to press forward. It wasn’t one she’d forget, which was why she was doing her best to be more careful this time around.

“What would you know?” Natsu hissed, “If you want to give up on Macao that’s fine. I didn’t ask you to come with me, so you can just get lost, and I’ll save him by myself, but don’t talk about things you don’t understand.”

A low rumbling growl from Padfoot reminded both of them of their audience, both Virgo and Padfoot were watching Natsu with hostile intent, clearly ready to rise to her defense. Happy was looking extremely nervous, and she knew it was because the cat, unlike his friend, was clearly aware he was outnumbered and outgunned. She didn’t know what Natsu was capable of ability wise, but she did feel fairly confident she could take him if he decided to take his temper out on her physically, especially since she had yet to summon Taurus or Cancer both of whom were better at physical combat than Virgo, and that didn’t even count Ophiuchus who would no doubt be glad to give Natsu the fight of his life.

Still she was hoping it wouldn’t come to that, though it had quickly become very clear that for all he looked about her age Natsu was not mature at all. His responses were incredibly naïve and childlike, and while that had a place, that place certainly wasn’t here.

“I’m not giving up on him,” she informed him calmly, glad she’d had an additional eighteen years to get ahold of her temper, and strangely grateful in a twisted way to Jude, who’d helped her learn to bite her tongue when it was necessary, “There’s a little boy in Magnolia who needs his dad, and I don’t plan to return empty handed.”

“But frankly,” she continued, not allowing Natsu to speak, knowing there was nothing she could do but pull the Band-Aid off, as living in denial wouldn’t do anyone any good, “One of those two options I gave you, as awful as they sound, are what I’m rooting for, because our third option is that we have to go back and tell that little boy his dad is dead, likely with a body we will never be able to find. Unless you have any other ideas about what might have happened to him? Because as you said I don’t know him, so if you do I’d be more than happy to hear them.”

Only years of experience kept her from flinching as Natsu let out a frustrated roar, driving his fists into the wall, the fire melting the ice into steam and the force of it cracking the wall behind. She traded a quick look with Virgo, a little worried that he might accidentally bring the roof down on them, and received a reassuring nod in return that told her, her maid like Spirit would be ready just in case.

“Ah princess, is this a bad time?” Crux asked, clearly concerned as he came out of research mode to see Natsu breathing heavily his fist buried up to the wrist in the wall, and her other summoned spirits guarding her rather fiercely, as Happy eyed everyone warily.

“No Crux, please tell me what you’ve found,” she encouraged, though she kept her eyes on Natsu just in case, not wanting him to potentially take any bad news out on the Spirit who had been like her grandfather since she was little.

“The good news is that, unlike the more proficient human Take Over mages, when Vulcans perform Take Over they can’t obliterate a soul entirely, which means the human soul is still in there, it just gets merged with the Vulcan soul, which is how you start to see human characteristics in a Vulcan,” Crux explained promptly.

“Well that’s something at least,” she acknowledged with a sigh. It meant that at the very least, parts of Macao would still be in there. She’d heard there were mages out there who could work with and heal souls. Finding one would be an ordeal, they were incredibly rare, especially after the purges in Bosco, but even if they couldn’t do anything here, it meant there was still a chance they could find someone who could, especially if Fairy Tail was as well connected as she figured it must be considering how famous it was.

“I have even better news,” Crux assured her, pulling her gaze away from Natsu who was finally looking calmer.

“Oh?” she prompted, trying not to get her hopes too high.

“Vulcan Take Over magic is incredibly weak compared to the human version of the magic, which is why their targets have to be beaten down for them to even attempt it,” Crux explained cheerfully, “This is because Vulcan souls don’t have the elasticity that humans do, meaning that even the strongest Vulcan soul would never be able to completely merge with an unwilling human soul, and it’s even harder for the Vulcan if the human in questions is a strong mage.”

“That is good news,” she admitted, “But is it possible to exorcise the Vulcan soul?”

“It is,” Crux agreed with a nod.

“But…?” she asked clearly hearing the word tacked on to the end of his agreement despite his not speaking it.

“There are only two methods, one of which would tear at his soul. He’d have the majority of it of course, but parts would be left behind because they’re too enmeshed together, like tearing two different colors of partially mixed clay apart,” Crux explained.

“Which would also leave him with bits of the Vulcan soul to fill in the gaps,” she extrapolated with a wince, earning a grave nod from Crux.

“And the other method?” she asked hoping against hope that it would be a better answer, because even if the human soul would easily overpower the bits of Vulcan given time she didn’t want to think about what the consequences might be to Macao. At a guess he’d take on some of the traits of a Vulcan, ones that would likely include aggressive behaviors towards everyone but women in particular, which may or may not leave him a danger to society.

“The other method would separate them entirely,” Crux told her hesitantly, “But it requires soul magic and after the purges mages with that kind of ability are either in hiding or belong to dark guilds.”

“We’ll do the second one,” Natsu piped up from where he’d been standing, apparently, he had been calm enough to listen and was now staring at the two of them determinedly, clearly daring her to say no, “No way in hell are we leaving bits of Vulcan in Macao!”

“Alright,” she agreed easily, that was her preferred option too, though she got the feeling it would also be the harder one of the two, still she wanted to return Romeo’s dad to him the way he remembered him and not accidentally give the poor kid a monster in human skin, “The question is where to find the right kind of mage and how to get them to cooperate with us, especially if they’re from a dark guild.”

“It’s not problem,” Natsu assured her confidently pummeling his fist into his palm a shower of sparks erupting on impact, “We’ll just beat them up until they agree to help us!”

A part of her wanted to strangle the guy for this simplistic and honestly idiotic way of thinking, but she was starting to get the feeling it wouldn’t help. He really was like a child in a lot of ways, an incredibly destructive toddler, who clearly didn’t understand that trying something like that would likely either get Macao killed or make the mage in question do something even worse to him, like help the Vulcan soul take over completely.

“We’ll keep that as a back-up plan,” she placated him, figuring if he was going to act like a toddler she’d treat him like one, “But I think our best bet is to ask Master Makarov if he knows anyone who could help us. After all I wouldn’t even know where to start looking for a mage with the skill we need, they’re pretty rare after all.”

“That makes sense,” Happy chirped cheerfully in agreement before Natsu could say anything, “Master definitely knows someone I’m sure of it!”

“The question of course is how to get in touch with him,” Lucy mused with a frown, “I don’t suppose you brought a communication lacrima?”

“I don’t really use those, they tend to break too easily,” Natsu explained sheepishly rubbing the back of his head, all the temper bled out of him now that he was getting his way, at least to some degree.

“Do you know the frequency to get ahold of the guild at least?” she asked figuring that at least was probably standard procedure for a guild, only to be disappointed with the sheepish expression on Natsu’s face, both in Natsu and in the Guild itself, for apparently not bothering to educate him. 

“I know it!” Happy volunteered immediately practically bouncing up and down paw in the air like an eager student, “I know it! I know it!”

“Good,” she breathed out relieved. For a moment she’d been afraid they’d have to somehow bring Vulcan Macao to Magnolia which, while it might’ve been possible, would’ve also been an extreme pain in the ass, and likely traumatizing for the citizens and especially for Romeo if he happened across them.

“Alright, so most towns have communication lacrima I think our best bet, is to have you stay here Natsu, with my good friend Virgo here, and guard the Vulcan, make sure he doesn’t escape, while Happy, Padfoot and I go to the nearest town and call Makarov,” she explained.

“Why are we splitting up?” Natsu asked confused, “Can’t we just take Macao with us to the town? I’m sure I can carry him!”

“I’m sure you could too,” she placated trying not to sigh, “But bringing what looks like a Vulcan into a town, even tied up would no doubt frighten the villagers. And what if he got loose somehow? He could hurt someone before we could stop him? No, best to split up, and then this way Happy can fly back once we’ve gotten a hold of your Guild and tell you what’s happening.”

“Alright,” Natsu agreed with a nod, “Let’s do it then.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope everyone enjoyed the chapter, especially since it will probably be the last one for a good long while.
> 
> This past weekend my dog Shepherd became incredibly ill pretty much overnight. The vet bills are astronomical already and I don't even know yet if he'll live or not. As you can probably imagine I'm absolutely devastated, especially since he and his sister Lily are all I have, as my family all lives a ways away. It's even worse, because his ability to live depends entirely on my ability to pay for whatever treatment he might need, and I've already wiped myself out. I'm hoping I'll be able to afford it, but that means I have to get another job which will put severe limits on my time and creativity.
> 
> On the bright side I opened up commissions for my writing over on ko-fi and I have a gofundme. If you're interested, since I've been informed we can't post things like that here, the links are over on my tumblr where I am also EvenescentTranquility. 
> 
> I know it's a pretty hard time for everyone, so absolutely do not feel pressured to donate. I will hopefully, eventually come back to this, but in the mean time please consider it on Hiatus. Please everyone stay healthy and safe. Best wishes!


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again I'm sorry to be putting this here, but please read the end notes they're important!

It was a strange sort of day for Bickslow as he made his way through the town where he was supposed to be meeting up with either a blond woman, Natsu, or Happy. It wasn’t often that the guild had need for a Seith mage and it was even rarer for him to be sent alone without the rest of the Raijinshuu. 

However, when Master Makarov had explained the situation to him, about Macao being taken over by a Vulcan and the need for a Seith mage to separate their souls so they could get their Guild member back intact, it did make sense. He’d never really thought about his magic as being useful for something like that before, but then he didn’t spend a whole lot of time contemplating just what all his magic could do.

It wasn’t that he hated his magic per se, but it was hard not to resent his abilities when they were the reason he’d been exiled from his homeland and sent away from his adoptive family in Bosco because of the ban on his magic after several dark Seith mages had wreaked havoc in the country. 

Still it did allow him to collect the souls that were housed in his totems, his most trusted allies, his babies, and it was what had led Laxus to befriend him and take him into the Raijinshuu who’d been his family for close to a decade now, which meant he didn’t hate it the way he used to. That didn’t mean he used it very often though, at least not in the way he would need to in order to help Macao.

Admittedly he didn’t know the older man very well, he wasn’t exactly close to anyone outside the Raijinshuu too concerned about being judged for his magic and abilities, but being Taken Over by a Vulcan soul, or potentially having to merge pieces of a Vulcan soul into yours was a fate he wouldn’t wish on his worst enemies, let alone a fellow member of the Guild. And in this case he was literally their only hope, as the only known Seith Mage in Fiore who wasn’t a part of a Dark Guild or the like. He hadn’t liked it, but he couldn’t say no either even if it meant missing out on the really lucrative mission the rest of the Raijinshuu were headed out on.

He was just glad the Guild was covering all his travel fees, otherwise he would’ve been really unhappy. He still would’ve done it of course, but he wouldn’t have been pleased in the least. Now he just had to find Natsu or Happy. He figured it shouldn’t be too difficult considering Happy was literally a blue flying cat, and Natsu wasn’t exactly known for his ability to keep quiet, though he was kind of curious about the blonde woman.

Apparently from what his babies had gathered as they listened in and caught up on the gossip in the Guild while he’d been talking to the Master, opinions on the blonde were mixed. Cana and Mirajane both seemed to really like her, and several of the men in the Guild including one of the few he liked outside the Raijinshuu, Loke, thought she was smokin’ hot, but she’d also apparently had a bit of a mouth on her. His babies hadn’t been able to find out the exact details, but apparently, she’d called out the Master and several male Guild Members as arrogant and chauvinistic. 

It was something that he could, at least privately agree with. The Guild didn’t mistreat its female members, far from it, but there had been more than a few times where things had happened that set his Boscan sensibilities on edge. He was raised to revere women in a way as they were the ones capable of bearing children, and while he was very open about sex, pleasure and the body as any proper Boscan was, some of the actions and words of certain members around the Guild’s women would’ve been highly frowned on. Groping women, or anyone really who’d said no was abhorrent to him, as was attempting to pressure them into any sort of physical intimacy be that simple hugs or kisses to fill blown sex.

Despite living in Fiore for as long as he now had, almost a decade now he tried to maintain his Boscan mindset when it came to women, mostly because it just seemed right to him, but also because he knew if he didn’t his sisters would somehow find out and bring the wrath of the gods down on his head. It didn’t matter that they were a country away Xally and Emzadi had their ways he was sure, and neither had ever hesitated to put their brothers in their proper place if they thought they’d done wrong.

It was why he was more than willing to keep an open mind about this blonde woman, Lucy according to Mirajane. He actually thought it was pretty kind of her to go on a rescue mission for a man she didn’t even know, especially since the mission had involved Vulcans, which were especially dangerous to women and in his opinion deserved to be exterminated with extreme prejudice.

He was so caught up in his thoughts that he didn’t notice someone calling his name until one of his babies, Papa if he wasn’t mistaken, clocked him over the back of the head to make him pay attention. He immediately turned and nearly had to double take when he saw the woman approaching him.

If this was Lucy, and judging by the bright blonde hair and the enormous canine at her side that he’d also been told about by Mirajane, then he could see why Loke had found her attractive. Boscans in general tended to have a thing for fair haired people, mostly because they valued rare beauty and blondes were rather rare in Bosco, and this Lucy was a stunner of a blonde.

Her hair was literally golden as it caught the light of the sun and her skin was sun kissed and smooth free of blemish despite it being fairly obvious she spent a good deal of time outdoors. Her figure was stunning a voluminous hourglass shape showed off in tight jeans and a pretty deep blue crop top. Her face was stunning, all regal cheekbones and sharp jawline, but her most arresting feature was without a doubt her eyes, a vivid green color that nearly matched his own Figure Eyes when they were glowing with power.

“You are Bickslow right?” she asked as she came to a stop in front of him, her canine companion hanging back a bit and eyeing him warily, clearly ready to lunge at a moments’ notice if he made even a single wrong step toward his companion. Looking at the size of the canine it was very clear he could do a heck of a lot of damage if he so chose, especially considering he was the size of a bear.

Still he wasn’t part of the Raijinshuu for nothing and considering his own appearance, the attire he preferred and the prominent tattoo on his face he’d be a hypocrite to judge anyone by how they looked be it human or animal. Thus he simply offered his own patented tongue wagging smile, showing off the Guild Mark stamped on his tongue, “That’s me pretty lady, you Lucy?”

“Pretty lady,” his babies echoed swirling around the two of them in their own sort of welcoming dance. The blonde startled for a moment glancing at his totems clearly intrigued, but seemingly not put off just yet, which was a good sign.

“The one and only,” she admitted with her own casual smile for him, before gesturing to her canine companion who was also watching his totems, though whether in a curious way, or an ‘I want to chew on them’ way he wasn’t sure, “And this is my friend Padfoot. Who are you?”

This wasn’t actually addressed at him, surprisingly, but at his babies, several of whom flipped about in delight at being addressed so openly, something only the Raijinshuu ever bothered to do, before joyfully introducing themselves first Papa, then Pepé, Popo, Pupu and Pipi last of course.

“Nice to meet you,” Lucy told them politely, “And thanks for coming so quickly. Do you need to rest for a bit, or are you ready to head up the mountain?”

“We can head out,” Bickslow assured her not bothered at all at the idea of traveling some more today and eager to get an idea at least of what exactly he’d be working with. He’d never had to untangle two souls before, and while he was fairly certain he could do it, it didn’t mean he wasn’t a bit nervous about it, which meant it was best to just get it over with, “Do we have any sort of transportation or…?”

“I’ve been riding on Padfoot,” she admitted grimacing apologetically at him as she added, “And I sent Happy back up the mountain to wait with Natsu.”

“That’s cool,” he assured her with a grin, “You ride away pretty lady we’ll follow.”

“Are you sure?” the blond asked clearly concerned, “Padfoot is pretty fast, it will be really difficult to keep up on foot.”

“Now who said anything about on foot?” he asked jumping into the air and letting his babies land neatly under his feet carrying him through the air, “I always ride in style!”

The blonde let out a startled laugh then grinned and mounted up, swinging onto the huge canine’s back as if she’d been doing it for years, “Well then best be on our way, before Natsu tries something else.”

“Has he been difficult?” Bickslow asked amused as they took off, the canine starting slow, but gradually speeding up as it saw that he and his babies could keep pace.

“Difficult is a bit of an understatement,” Lucy told him blowing out a tired breath.

“Really?” he prompted intrigued. He wasn’t close with the Fire Dragon Slayer, but knew he could be stubborn, and destructive. He and the rest of the Guild had been privy to several lectures as the Master tried to scold Natsu into being a bit more careful with his admittedly extremely destructive magic. It was why, despite being extremely strong, very few people wanted to partner with him for any sort of mission.

“Ever since he decided to believe the Vulcan was Macao, he’s been trying to treat it as if it wasn’t a Vulcan,” Lucy told him with a grimace, “I have the thing wrapped up right in chains, handcuffs, and rope to keep it immobilized, but Natsu keeps trying to let it free. If I hadn’t set Padfoot here to guard last night he would’ve let it loose while I was sleeping. It’s why I’m glad you came so quickly. I’m not sure I would’ve been comfortable staying another night.”

“That idiot,” Bickslow snarled thoroughly put off at the idea that his Guild Mate would let such a vile creature loose near a vulnerable sleeping woman. While he was very sure Natsu could subdue the thing if necessary, that didn’t mean he’d be able to do it before it did some damage to the blond, which it absolutely would try. It didn’t matter if the thing was Macao, right now its base state, due to the Take Over magic, was that of a Vulcan, with Vulcan instincts and impulses.

“He keeps whining that the Vulcan is Macao and it isn’t fair to treat him so badly,” Lucy explained shaking her head, “I don’t think he quite understands that while the Vulcan and Macao’s souls are both there, the one in charge is the Vulcan. He seems like a nice enough guy, but this little adventure has definitely proved he’s not the sharpest knife in the drawer even if his heart is in the right place.”

Bickslow huffed a laugh at that, because it honestly did sum up the pink haired dragon slayer fairly well, “I think everyone knows that Happy is the brains of that outfit.”

“I think what you mean to say is that of the one brain cell they share between them Happy is in possession of it most of the time,” the blonde returned dryly.

The words and the deadpan way she said them nearly made him fall off his babies as he howled with laughter, only long experience on his and the babies’ parts keeping him balanced midair. He’d never heard Happy and Natsu’s relationship described quite like that before, but it was definitely fitting, and he’d definitely be remembering it to tell Laxus later, his friend would no doubt get a kick out of it too.

“You know I think I might just like you pretty girl,” Bickslow told her still chuckling as they made their way up the winding mountain path, and was surprised to find it was true. So far the blonde had made an overwhelmingly positive impression, simply by being courteous to his babies who he knew many thought were creepy, and being unafraid to interact with him despite knowing he was a Seith mage.

That was pretty rare, because even outside Bosco where Seith magic was illegal it had a pretty dark reputation, mostly due to assholes misusing the ability for some pretty twisted things over the years, the atrocities overshadowing all the good that could be done with the magic. It made people afraid to interact with him, afraid he’d steal their souls, which was ridiculous, even the thought of ripping someone’s soul from their still living body was abhorrent to him and made him feel physically sick. He would never, could never, even dream of it.

Between that, and what he was sure was a fantastically dry wit, he was beginning to think Lucy was his type of person, and that was without going into how very attractive he found her.

“Funny I was thinking the same thing,” Lucy told him with a friendly grin on her face, one that he simply had to return, thinking maybe he wasn’t so unhappy about missing out on the lucrative job with the Raijinshuu after all.

The trip up the mountain took about three hours all told, and he and Lucy chatted most of the way. She was pretty interested in what living with the Guild was like and in return she told him about some of the adventures she’d been on living life on the road. He was honestly pretty damn impressed with her ability to not just survive, but apparently thrive off on her own in the wild, but when he’d voiced the thought she’d told him she was never alone, not when she had her keys.

It turned out Lucy was a Celestial Spirit Mage, which was pretty damn impressive. He knew there were only a few out in the world at a time, and that they were as rare as Seith mages were, which was pretty damn rare. He found he empathized with her a lot, as she explained her Spirits were like her family, not tools to be used, abused, or thrown away. He felt the same way about his babies and told her so.

The two of them had a good time trading stories of the things they’d done with their respective partners and the trouble they’d gotten into because of them. He laughed as she told him about the fights Ophiuchus and Aquarius got into, and she giggled at how his totems liked to pretend they were inert sometimes and then frighten anyone who tried to touch them or got too close to them.

It was a really pleasant trip, far better than he’d been expecting when he first set out, and he really enjoyed Lucy’s company. She honestly reminded him a lot of Xally with her clear intelligence and calm demeanor that often hid a biting wit, though he had the strangest feeling there was definitely some of Emzadi’s temper lurking in there too, well hidden, but definitely there.

He was kind of hoping she might stick around after this, or at the very least that she’d keep in touch. He didn’t have many he’d consider friends, but he thought she could definitely be one. Unfortunately, since she wasn’t part of the guild it wouldn’t be easy, but he thought it might just be worth it.

“Do you hear that?” she asked breaking him from his thoughts, a concerned frown on her face.

“Hear what?” Bickslow asked completely confused, but instantly on alert, glancing around the steep mountain path that they were on with wary eyes as his babies moved to hover close, “I don’t hear anything.”

“Exactly,” Lucy told him quickly urging her canine friend to go faster, a command he hurriedly echoed to his babies, not sure what was going on but willing to follow her lead, “We’re less than five minutes from the cave, sound echoes over the mountains, especially when there isn’t snowfall. When have you ever known Natsu or Happy to be quiet? Especially when they’re together?”

“We should’ve been able to hear them by now,” he agreed grimly urging his babies to move as fast as they could go.

They arrived quickly at a large cave, and both of them quickly hopped off their rides, with her canine companion shrinking down, practically melting into her shadow in a way that reminded him of Vander. A really neat and useful trick especially if she was looking to ambush someone. He also noted she had pulled a long length of chain from what long exposure to Erza told him was requip space, which was rather impressive, especially since the hold on it told him she knew how to use it.

Together the two of them crept silently into the cave, wary for ambush. He could sense a large fight had taken place here, and see faint echoes of souls that flitted in and out of his vision. Most of them were easily ignored, the grey black almost greasy looking splotches disregarded with disdain as the Vulcans who he couldn’t care less about. However he could also see faint flashes of color, clear human souls that he did his best not to look at, especially since the shape of them told him they’d died in agony.

It always tugged at his heartstrings to see souls like that and made him feel ill, though long exposure ensured he no longer got physically sick at the sight. Still there was very little he could do except send out a small gentle wave of his magic that helped sooth the rough edges and help them fade a little faster into whatever afterlife they were meant for. 

Souls very rarely lasted without a container of some sort, usually a body, though things like intense pain or regret when they died could make them linger longer and give them power for a time. He’d found the best thing to really do for them was to give them what peace he could and let them fade on their own time because unfortunately helping every soul he came across would make him burn out and spend his entire life magically, physically and emotionally exhausted. It had been a hard lesson, that he couldn’t help everyone, but one he held on to as best he could, and that came in handy, especially in places like these.

The scene they came on, when they finally passed into the largest chamber, was one that almost had him attacking, but then he caught sight of Lucy out of the corner of his eye and saw the resigned and slightly amused expression on her face, her guard dropping almost completely and decided to wait and see.

“Virgo what happened here?” Lucy asked her question directed at the pink haired woman, dressed in a maid uniform who was swinging around two incredibly heavy looking chains in a fairly threatening manner.

“Princess,” the maid like woman, Virgo, whose soul shone an otherworldly rippling gold color greeted joyfully a smile lighting her face as she caught sight of Lucy. The title, along with the strange soul leading him to believe this was actually a Celestial Spirit, one of Lucy’s no doubt, and not a threat, which had him relaxing much more.

“The dragon slayer attempted to free the Vulcan again, as per my orders I stopped him by any means necessary without permanent damage, and then the blue cat tried to interfere so I stopped him to,” Virgo explained an almost maniacal glint in her eyes and a smile on her lips that looked polite on the surface but that reminded him more than a bit of a shark as she eyed her captives.

He couldn’t help the slight snort of amusement that escaped his lips. She’d certainly interpreted her orders rather amusingly given that both Natsu and Happy were completely wrapped in chains, handcuffed, and dangling from the ceiling by their ankles with gags in their mouths. Natsu, as could be expected by the energetic salmon haired fire breather, was struggling futilely if wildly, while Happy looked rather resigned to his fate.

“Really Natsu?” Lucy demanded looking both infuriated and a bit resigned as she stared up at him, as if she had expected this to happen, but had hoped it wouldn’t. The pink haired mage tried to reply but the only sounds that got through the gag were muffled sounding grunts and murmurs.

“Very well, just like we agreed then, since you broke your promise I get to decide your punishment,” Lucy informed him sternly a disapproving frown on her face that made both him and Natsu wince, though likely for different reasons. He doubted Natsu actually knew how important promises were to Celestial Mages, the way Bickslow himself did thanks to some of his research, but he clearly did know that Lucy meant it when she said he would be punished.

“You and Happy, since Happy interfered when he should’ve known better,” she informed the two, glancing over the the blue cat whose eyes slid guiltily away, “Are going to stay up there while Bickslow and I see about saving Macao. The two of you will also be responsible for paying for the tickets to get all five of us back to Magnolia and we will be taking a train the entire way.”

Bickslow snickered slightly as even the word train seemed to make Natsu’s face slightly green, well aware of the dragon-slayer’s aversion to any sort of transportation that wasn’t Happy or his own two feet. However to his credit he didn’t argue, instead slumping in his chains and seemingly waiting for the two of them to get on with it, which he supposed was his cue.

The other living being in the room was wrapped in an absolute cocoon of chains, several clearly deeply anchored to the wall, with only its head left free, its mouth also gagged shut. The chains looked painfully tight and he saw why as he took a step toward the Vulcan, capturing its attention and pulling it away from where it was practically drooling staring at Virgo and Lucy in a way that made him shudder in disgust.

The moment it saw him coming toward it, it sneered, thrashing as best it could against the chains, its form wavering, shrinking and growing in a way he’d never seen before as it did its level best to either break or wriggle free from its confinement. Luckily the chains held fast to the moorings and didn’t budge or loosen, resizing with their captive. It was an incredibly useful feature and one he put down to magic, likely Virgo’s considering the chains she still held in her hands.

Once he was close enough he carefully lifted his visor and peered into the Vulcan’s dark hateful gaze. The eyes were, after all, the windows to the soul and these let him see the two that were fighting furiously inside the creature.

He’d seen the souls of Takeover Mages before, they had them in the Guild after all, and he knew what they were supposed to look like, which was certainly not like this. Normal Takeover Mages souls were generally a myriad of colors. No matter what people said, while Take Over did take over souls it didn’t actually obliterate them entirely, instead it consumed most of them, and embedded the pieces that it couldn’t consume. 

It was like dough or batter. The Takeover Mage’s soul was a really bland smooth basic dough that could blend well with everything, while the soul they were taking over was something more exotic, like chocolate chip, or oatmeal raisin. The two could mix together and work, but no matter how much you stirred and blended the two doughs it would never be smooth again because of the chocolate pieces or the raisins.

It also explained why Takeover Mages could only take over so many souls before going crazy, they only had so much dough, eventually all those little pieces would be more numerous than the original dough and overpower the original soul. This was in addition to the fact that there were different types of Takeover mages, and explained why it was a bad idea to mix souls that didn’t fall into the same category in the same Takeover mage, after all mixing cake batter and bread dough was a terrible idea, which was why they stuck to a single category like Demons, Monsters, or Animals for their Takeovers.

What he was seeing in the Vulcan’s soul, was something like that, like someone was trying to mix cookie dough with bread dough, only it was more like oil and water. It would melt together a little at the edges and cling before eventually separating with neither soul really able to overpower the other.

It meant that separating them would be easier than he thought as there was a pretty clear distinction, which was a relief, especially since he did recognize the red purple color of Macao’s soul. He’d made it a point to memorize the soul of everyone in the Guild, just to be safe, and so had no doubt it was him.

Unfortunately in this state Macao didn’t recognize him, which meant both of them fought as he separated them, using his own magic to put up a barrier between the two souls and then gently going through and sorting out what belonged to who. He didn’t know how long it took to ensure that there was absolutely none of the Vulcan Soul left in Macao, and that the Vulcan wasn’t going to take any of Macao with him, but he knew it had to be a good long while.

Luckily that was the hard part, and once he’d double and triple checked his work he reached in and yanked the Vulcan soul straight out of the body. It wasn’t easy, the soul fought him, trying to slip from his metaphorical fingers and go back to Macao, but in the end he succeeded in completely severing the soul from the body. Just to be absolutely sure he also used what was left of his magic to send the soul on, banishing it from this plane to wherever it was meant to go just to ensure it could never get near Macao again.

By the time he was finished he was sweaty and a bit shaky with exhaustion. He took a step back and nearly toppled over from his muscles cramping up a bit from remaining in one spot for too long. Only his babies, with their quick reflexes and constant awareness of his physical and mental state, saved him from toppling to the floor.

Still he couldn’t help but be rather proud of himself as he saw that what had previously been Vulcan shaped had returned to the familiar visage of his guildmate, even if he was clearly unconscious and beaten up. He heaved a relieved sigh and carefully raised a shaky hand to his visor, flicking it back down before turning to his audience.

“Are you alright?” Lucy asked clearly concerned, taking a step toward him, hands outstretched as if she’d also made a move to catch him when he stumbled but had paused half-way through the motion.

“I’m fine,” he assured her, “Just tired. I didn’t realize it would take so much out of me.”

“Can I get you anything?” she asked as he hobbled his way over to one of the rocks and carefully lowered himself on to it with the help of his babies, “Water? Something to eat?”

“If you’ve got it yeah,” he told her offering her one of his tongue lolling grins that would hopefully reassure her, touched by her concern, “I’m actually pretty hungry.”

“Not surprising,” she told him pulling a canteen from her requip space and handing it over, “You’ve been at it for a couple hours now. It’s dinner time. Luckily Virgo and I decided we’d probably need food before we left the mountain, so we’ve got some stew prepared.”

He accepted the canteen and eagerly began to drink. He hadn’t realized how thirsty he’d been until the water touched his tongue, but was incredibly grateful for it. True to her word Natsu and Happy were still strung up in chains on the ceiling, and while Natsu was still struggling, gnawing away at the gag in his mouth, Happy had apparently managed to fall asleep.

There was also a fire going, which was good, as it had started to get a bit chilly, and a rather pleasant aroma in the air, no doubt caused by the cauldron of stew that was happily bubbling away over the fire. He accepted both it and a nice big chunk of bread from Lucy with thanks, nearly groaning aloud at how wonderful it tasted. Clearly whoever made the soup was quite the chef and had managed to make something far better than what he was used to when he was away on missions and not in a nice hotel or something.

Lucy opened her mouth, clearly about to ask him something when a shout interrupted her. Apparently Natsu had managed to chew his way through the gag and was now glaring unhappily at the two of them as he demanded, “Let me down already! I’m hungry too!”

The glare Lucy leveled on him was extremely impressive. He was reminded once again of Emzadi, and took a moment to be grateful it wasn’t directed his way. Luckily it seemed Natsu wasn’t actually as dense as he seemed and sensed the danger because he quickly shut his mouth, cowering away slightly, clearly aware Lucy was on her last bit of patience and anything further might push her right over the edge and into a temper.

While he thought Natsu might deserve a thrashing, he didn’t want to accidentally be caught in the crossfire, and given how much she reminded him of the eldest of his sisters that was definitely a possibility.

“Are you finished with Macao?” she asked turning back to him after she’d apparently deemed Natsu sufficiently cowed, “Is he safe?”

“He’s good,” he assured her, hastily swallowing the mouthful of bread and stew he’d had in his mouth so he could explain, “The Vulcan soul is completely gone, and I made sure it can’t return.”

“Alright,” she agreed after searching his covered face for a long minute, her green eyes somehow finding his despite the visor which should’ve blocked her ability to see them, “I trust you.”

The words were like a hammer to the head, hard hitting, and leaving him dazed as she directed Virgo to let Macao go, and began to treat the unconscious man’s injuries, informing Natsu he could wait until his Guild Mate was tended to and safe before eating. He watched her a bit uncomprehending at the sheer trust she was giving to him.

Of all the people in the cave, that they would no doubt have to stay in overnight again, she would be in the most danger if Macao wasn’t as cured as he said he was, because of Vulcan’s predilections for women. However, she’d gone to treat Macao without fear, because she trusted he’d done what he said he had.

It was honestly unprecedented, especially outside his team. Very few people trusted him so completely, he could name them on his hands and still have fingers left over because people didn’t trust Seith Mages. At one time he’d thought the Guild would trust him more once they got to know him, but he thought even Makarov was a bit wary at times, though he hid it well.

He could always tell. Souls didn’t lie, and hers said she absolutely meant what she said. She trusted him, and as he watched her bandage his Guild Mate he resolved then and there that the two of them were going to be good friends. It didn’t matter how difficult it was going to be to keep in touch in the future, that kind of trust was rare and he knew better than to let go of it now that he’d found it. Lucy was clearly something special, and he couldn’t wait to find out just how special that was.

♈️ ♉️ ♊️ ♋️ ♌️ ♍️ ♎️ ♏️ ♐️ ♑️ ♒️ ♓️

“So what’s your plan now?” Bickslow asked her curiously as the five of them relaxed on the train ride back to Magnolia, or well, she, Bickslow, Macao and Happy relaxed while Natsu moaned miserably in his seat.

“I’m not sure,” Lucy told him with a shrug, “We don’t really have a set destination at the moment, though I do think I’d like to travel outside the country eventually I don’t know if I’m up to that just yet.”

“Not looking to put down any roots?” Macao asked her curiously. The older man, when he’d woken from his injury and magic exhaustion induced slumber had been incredibly grateful to the three of them. He’d evidently thought he was dead because while he had managed to take down an extremely respectful twenty-two Vulcans on his own he’d drained himself and had been injured enough that he thought for sure he’d die. 

Apparently, he hadn’t been aware that Vulcans had Take Over magic, and had been physically sick when he’d discovered what had happened to him. He’d sworn he would rather have died than be Taken Over by a Vulcan, an attitude she could agree with, and had been incredulous but grateful that they’d managed to completely separate his soul from the Vulcan’s and bring him back. According to him his last thoughts before the Take Over had been about his son, and how terrible he’d felt about leaving the boy alone, so he was rather understandably eager to get back to him.

Still despite his gratitude she could see he was still a little wary of Bickslow, an attitude that was honestly making her a little cranky. The man was his Guild Mate after all, and while he had his quirks, he’d been nothing but kind and respectful to her. He seemed like an incredibly fun guy and she thought it was pretty clear that it was his magic which made Macao wary, something she found rather ironic given that it was only because of that same magic that Bickslow had been able to save him in the first place.

It wasn’t really obvious, and she knew neither Natsu or Happy had cottoned on, but she had, and she was certain Bickslow had as well, especially since both men did their best to have one of the other three in between the two of them at all times. Honestly the idea that someone would be discriminated against for their magic was infuriating to her, especially given the war of her last life and what it had supposedly been fought over. It was ridiculous and prejudiced and the more she thought on it the more it pissed her off.

Still she was doing her best to be polite. It wasn’t technically her business after all, Fairy Tail wasn’t her Guild and who knew, maybe she was making assumptions and the two had, had bad blood between them before. Either way unless one of the men stated something explicitly she would keep her opinions to herself.

“I’m not sure,” she told Macao, answering him and keeping to that politeness, “We’ve been traveling for a little over a year now, and haven’t really stopped in a single place for very long yet, though admittedly we don’t really have a plan at the moment as we already saw all the places we’d originally planned to go.”

“If you’re not in too big a rush you should stick around Magnolia for a while,” Macao told her earnestly, “I’m sure at the very least that the Guild will want to thank you for helping me out.”

“Maybe,” she told him with a shrug, privately unsure that they’d actually be that welcoming, especially considering she’d gone out of her way to antagonize them a bit before she’d left even if she had enjoyed her brief interaction with Cana and Mirajane.

“He’s right,” Bickslow told her earnestly, surprising her a bit, “And besides it would be cool if you could meet the rest of the group I usually do missions with, the Raijinshuu is pretty awesome and I think they’d like you.”

“The Thunder God Tribe?” she repeated, partly bemused and a little incredulous at the name. The language in this world was a bit strange, a mish mash of English, Japanese, and little hints of the romance languages thrown in here and there. It made for some very interesting naming conventions, especially when you could get ordinary English sounding names like hers and Romeo’s, and then ordinary sounding Japanese names like Natsu and then names that were completely off the wall like Bickslow.

“Our leader, Laxus, who’s also Master Makarov’s grandson, has lightning magic,” Bickslow told her as if that explained everything, which honestly from the perspective of the culture of this world it probably did.

“Lightning huh?” she asked curious despite herself, “Sounds dangerous.”

“It can be,” Bickslow admitted easily enough, “But unlike the fire bug over there Laxus at least has control and doesn’t generally cause collateral damage.”

Said fire bug groaned slightly in response, clearly trying to speak up but unable to, due to the nausea, while both Macao and Happy snickered a bit both in acknowledgement of the truth of Bickslow’s words and at the pink haired man’s predicament.

“So it’s you, Laxus, and…?” she prompted leadingly, actually interested both because she quite liked Bickslow and because the magic in this world was endlessly fascinating to her.

Bickslow spent the rest of the journey cheerfully telling her about the Raijinshuu, about quiet, polite, obedient Rune Mage Freed, and snarky, sparkly, girly Fairy Mage Evergreen with both Macao and Happy chiming in at different points to add in their own opinions about the group. 

She was pleased to note the more Bickslow chattered the less wary Macao seemed, which was nice and got rid of some of the tension that had been plaguing their car. It also made for a fascinating conversation and she found the more she listened the more intrigued she became, especially as the conversation swung away from the Raijinshuu to all the rest of the mages in the Guild and some of the things the Guild as a whole got up to.

It sounded pretty interesting, and so by the end of the train ride, between the three coherent members, the Fairy Tail Guild had managed to intrigue her enough to stick around for a while, a sentiment Padfoot seemed to heartily agree with when she asked for his opinion on the matter. She wasn’t sure how long she’d actually stick around but staying for a bit certainly wouldn’t hurt, and it would give her a chance to let any correspondence catch up to her and check up on her part of the Heartfilia Konzern. 

That and she thought she might like to meet a lot of the people they’d talked about and to get to know Bickslow more as the two of them seemed to click pretty well. Honestly she was looking forward to it, because while she loved her spirits, human company and friends was something she’d lacked in this new life. The spirits did their best, and she adored them to pieces, but there were some things, even reincarnated as she had been, that she just couldn’t relate to with the Spirits and they in turn couldn’t quite understand about her, especially given most of them were thousands of years old.

The closest she’d really gotten to a friend was her mother and the servants none of which really counted. This was mostly down to her reincarnation, where she was too mature to interact happily with others her age, and too young for more mature people to take her seriously. She was hoping now that she was older in appearance that might change, that and she was knew, at least according to the Rune Knights, that wizards could be quite odd, so they’d hopefully write off her own oddities in turn. 

Though they also have more of a chance of discovering the truth of her and her reincarnation as they were also supposedly more open to things like that. She was sure that as long as she didn’t do anything too odd, or reveal all her tricks she was sure she’d be fine. She’d just have to be careful.

♈️ ♉️ ♊️ ♋️ ♌️ ♍️ ♎️ ♏️ ♐️ ♑️ ♒️ ♓️

Lucy sipped idly at her tea as she watched the chaos going around her and mused that she had probably been too paranoid and overestimated the wizards’ ability to discern something off about her. It had been about a week and a half since she’d returned from her mission with Natsu, Happy, and Bickslow to rescue Macao from Vulcans and their Take Over magic.

In that time she’d managed to settle in rather nicely, renting out a lovely small apartment that let her pay on a month by month basis. It only had one room, as it was a studio, with the bedroom, kitchen and living areas all rolled into one, but it was a large room and rather nice. 

Virgo and Cancer had helped furnish it with several large book cases, a comfy couch, writing desk, and a dining table and chairs that they’d bought together at the markets around Magnolia. There were also several personal touches that had been added, including a bed for Padfoot, and several comfortable throws that were made of the wolf pelts she and Ophiuchus had hunted in the Lycan woods.

The bathroom was also rather nice, done in white tiles with a separate shower and a large bath that was definitely on the luxurious end of things. It was something she intended to enjoy quite often if she could.

All in all, while it had nothing on the Heartfilia Manor in terms of luxury or opulence, it was a space all her own, and far better than sleeping on the ground the way she had been for the last year. Her bed was even by an enormous window, so technically she could still ‘sleep under the stars’ in some sense, which was a relief. 

It was also only 70,000 jewels per month to rent, which was a really good deal, especially considering it was fairly close to all sorts of wonderful amenities and she was incredibly grateful to both Mirajane and Bickslow for helping her find it. Unfortunately, Bickslow hadn’t been able to stay long, apparently his team needed him for something and he’d been called away just a few days after they’d gotten back, but she’d appreciated his time and company nonetheless.

Mirajane was also an unexpected but lovely surprise. They were about the same age, and the bartender was really interesting to talk with. She was apparently a Take Over mage herself, one who had at one time specialized in Demon Souls, though she’d since retired for the most part, and had been interested in hearing all the details about their mission to rescue Macao.

The three of them, her, Bickslow, and Mirajane had actually talked a lot those first few days before Bickslow had to leave, and she and Mirajane had kept up the conversation afterwards as she swung by the Guild every day to sit at the bar for a while, soak up the atmosphere and talk.

She’d been a bit unsure of her welcome at first, but Mirajane had quickly explained that a person didn’t have to be a Guild member to be welcome in the Guild Hall. It was, surprisingly a fully functioning bar that catered both to the Guild and to the citizens of Magnolia as a secondary source of income to the missions that Guild Mages took. 

It was also where citizens were meant to approach to commission the different missions the Guild took. It was apparently Mirajane, and not Master Makarov who kept track of which missions they’d been given, who was out where, what deadlines there were, and so on and so forth. She’d been a bit curious about that, as she would’ve assumed that was actually a job for the Master of the Guild, but Mirajane had just shrugged and explained it was something she felt she could do to help make herself useful to the Guild while also continuing to be retired and not have to take missions. She was also paid pretty well for it, given she was one of the most personable members of the Guild, one that citizens felt comfortable approaching.

Admittedly they didn’t get a whole lot of citizens, given the extremely rowdy nature of the Guild Members, but they did have several loyal regulars, tourists, and the occasional daredevil who wanted to say they’d survived the experience, which meant so long as she wasn’t outright banned by the Guild Master she was always welcome to visit.

Given that she had actually rescued Macao, and there had been a rather loud, but fun party to celebrate and give thanks for his safe return she wasn’t worried anymore about her welcome, even if she did sometimes receive some looks from a couple of the men. Mirajane and Cana had put an end to that by setting Romeo on anyone who might not like her.

The little boy looked at both her and Natsu with stars in his eyes, clearly hero worshipping them for the safe return of his only parent. He was therefore extremely against anyone who said a bad word about her, and had a talent for pranks, one she was fairly sure Padfoot was helping him with as she’d found the two together on more than one occasion. Not that she minded given how much she loved pranks herself. She was also pretty happy to see Padfoot making a new friend, and Romeo had even expressed an interest in maybe learning some Celestial Magic someday himself.

She wasn’t sure he’d be able to do it, as given his father he was more inclined to Fire Magic, but didn’t feel like it would hurt for him to try as long as Macao didn’t mind, which he didn’t seem to.

Outside of Mirajane, Romeo and Macao she’d also gotten to know Cana a bit better. The other woman was also around her age and tended to drink quite a bit, but she was also apparently quite a gifted card mage. Honestly her magic made Lucy a bit nervous, more even than Mirajane’s Take Over magic, mostly because she’d never done well with any sort of Divination, and Cana did regular Tarot readings with her cards. 

Luckily it seemed Death or maybe something else always seemed to interfere with the other woman’s readings whenever she asked her cards things about Lucy, and she never got any sort of clear answers. She wasn’t sure whether she was amused or guilty at Cana’s frustration with the whole thing, though it did lead the other woman to declare she would have to stick close to Lucy in an attempt to solve the mystery, which had been rather nice as she was an interesting companion.

Between Cana and Mirajane she learned all sorts of interesting gossip about the wizards of Fairy Tail. Mirajane was apparently quite the romantic and liked to pair people together, between that and her bartender status she learned all sorts of interesting things. Cana on the other hand had her tarot cards and held her liquor better than anyone else, and never forgot anything when she was drunk.

Their conversations were often extremely hilarious, especially since they almost always devolved into Mirajane trying repeatedly to convince Cana that she should start a relationship with different Guild Members, and Cana insisting she liked sex too much to ever be tied down. They were honestly polar opposites in the romantic department, as Mirajane believed in true love, monogamy, and only having sex with people you loved, while Cana wasn’t sure true love even existed, but sex was great and for pleasure, and could be done with anyone she pleased so long as the other party consented as well. She found their debates extremely entertaining, especially as Mirajane got wilder and wilder in her pairings and Cana said more and more scandalous things trying to make Mirajane back off.

She’d honestly been caught in the middle more than once, but had stated early on that her stance was between the two viewpoints. Personally, she enjoyed sex and saw nothing wrong with it so long as all parties consented to everything that happened and didn’t necessarily need commitment of any sort. However she wasn’t against commitment either, and would happily commit to the right partner or partners if she ever found something that was right for her.

This kind of girl talk was interesting to her, and something she’d missed out on in her last life, mostly because she was too busy trying to keep herself and her friends alive. However, she’d found she quite enjoyed sighing over romantic gestures and cute couples with Mirajane, and talking about all kinds of sex, tips, tricks and experiences with Cana who was always willing to share. It was nice, really nice honestly.

It was why she’d come by today, well that and to thank Mirajane for her help finding a place. She’d meant to have a nice chat with Cana, but it turned out the woman and her partner Loke had gone on a mission together, leaving her to chat with Mira in between customers and just take in the chaos of the Guild.

Loke was a bit of a mystery to her, despite being Cana’s regular partner. Both women had told her he was a bit of a player, and he did seem to always have a group of women around, both civilian and not, clinging to him and fawning over him. The first time they’d officially met he’d tried to flirt with her, and she’d even flirted back a bit, not seeing the harm. She’d never be one of his groupies, but a little flirting never hurt anyone.

Then Padfoot had bounded up to them with a happily laughing Romeo on his back, the two of them returning from some mischief or another. Her best friend had taken one look at Loke and started growling, which had been a shock and a half, and she’d honestly felt bad especially since Loke had cringed back, clearly intimidated, his eyes huge behind the sunglasses he seemed to wear everywhere and sweat pouring down his face.

He’d excused himself and practically run away, tail between his legs, and when she’d confronted Padfoot about it, the spirit had looked rather torn for a moment before informing her he smelled like a cat, and a tomcat at that. However she’d known Padfoot for a long time, and had known despite both Cana and Mirajane accepting the story that there was more to it. She’d confronted him about it later, but he’d refused to speak about it, deftly changing the subject when she so much as hinted at it.

It was a little frustrating. She hated when secrets were kept from her, but she had at least managed to wrangle out from Padfoot that it had nothing to do with her, and was entirely Loke’s secret and wouldn’t harm her or interfere with her life in any way, which she had decided was enough. Because while she hated secrets, she also knew people should be allowed to keep their own unless they wanted to share, after all it was how she expected people to treat her own secrets, and it would be hypocritical of her to press.

Still it did leave Loke as a bit of a mystery that would probably forever bother her and make her uncomfortable in his presence, which was fine considering he seemingly felt the same way and had so far gone out of his way to avoid her since that first confrontation with Padfoot.

Speaking of her companion, she watched with no small amusement as Happy went to take a bite out of the fish that was on his plate, quietly chatting to Natsu, only to get a mouthful of pepper. The cat like creature yowled indignantly looking around for the culprit, his eyes set firmly on Natsu, who was closest and berating the bewildered Fire Mage for messing with something as sacred as fish, as a shadow detached from the table and made its way discreetly back across the room before attaching to hers, amused snickering in her ear letting her know who the true culprit was.

“That wasn’t very nice,” she remarked mildly, though she couldn’t quite keep the corners of her mouth from twitching in amusement.

“Neither was him leaving scratch marks all over our walls,” Padfoot countered with a huff.

“Very true,” she affirmed, grimacing slightly at the reminder. 

She’d only had her new apartment for a about a week now, but the second day she’d emerged from a rather luxurious bath to find her home had been invaded. Honestly, she probably shouldn’t have left the window open, though in her defense it was the second floor and she absolutely had not expected anyone to come in through it, and she especially hadn’t expected Natsu.

He’d honestly pissed her off quite a bit with his rudeness, as he’d snooped around in things that weren’t meant for him, and Happy had clawed at her walls. She’d, rather justifiably in her opinion, screamed and started shouting for him to get out, especially since she’d only been wearing a towel at the time.

She’d been a bit surprised Padfoot hadn’t chased them out or allowed them in, in the first place, but then it turned out her friend hadn’t known they were there. He’d been out carefully exploring Magnolia, wanting to figure out the lay of land as it were since they were going to be staying a while, and had been absolutely infuriated that the duo would invade their ‘territory’. 

When he’d come back, alerted by her shouting he’d chased them out, nipping at their heels and managing to take a nice big chunk out of Natsu’s pants. He’d chased them all the way back to and around the Guild several times and had, had them cornered and quailing when she’d managed to arrive.

With help from some of his guildmates, including Mirajane and Macao they’d managed to explain to the dragon raised teen that it was absolutely inappropriate for him to just invite himself into her home. It turned out the Fire Mage simply hadn’t understood the social etiquette as most others either lived in the dorms provided by Fairy Tail, or had known him since he was a child and allowed him to come around whenever he pleased.

It had helped cool her temper quite a bit, because it was a mistake made in genuine ignorance, though she had threatened that now he knew if he ever tried it again he’d be thoroughly emasculated. He seemed to have learned his lesson though, if his and Happy’s shared murmurs of how scary she was were to be believed. Apparently they were comparing her to someone named Erza, someone she had yet to actually meet though she was looking forward to it, as she was, according to Cana, one of the strongest mages in the Guild and an expert with Requip magic.

Luckily the Guild itself had mostly found this episode with Natsu funny, and had taken no offense to Padfoot chasing him around their Guild Hall and causing some minor chaos and destruction, and had even waved off her offer to pay for any damages. According to her two new friends things like this tended to happen to them all the time, and Natsu in particular had a bad habit of causing chaos wherever he went. And speaking of Natsu, she braced herself as the Fire Mage came bounding up to her, with Happy on his heels as usual, both looking rather eager.

“Hey Luigi!” he greeted brightly, clearly forgetting her name, again, something she’d been assured wasn’t unusual with Natsu who remembered faces, and scent better than names until the person in question did something to properly befriend or impress him. Still she wasn’t about to take that lying down.

“Yes Natsumi?” she asked blandly earning an amused look from Happy who found her subtle retaliation at Natsu hilarious while the mage himself just got confused.

“It’s Natsu, Luigi,” he told her gently as if speaking to a very small child.

“Any my name is Lucy,” she retorted in the same tone, “And until you learn to call me by that I’m going to keep calling you Natsumi.”

“You said those people, the dog, the floating cross guy and the pink haired lady were spirits right?” he asked apparently either realizing that arguing with her over his name was fruitless or choosing to ignore her.

“Yes,” she agreed slowly, not really sure where he was going with this.

“Well do you have any others?” he asked curiously, “Because Wakaba said Celestial Mages tend to have lots if they can, different tools for different jobs.”

“I do have others,” she acknowledged shortly, trying not to take her annoyance about him referring to Spirits as tools out on him, since he was only repeating something he’d heard from someone else.

“Can I meet them?” he asked eagerly, rocking back and forth slightly looking a bit like a kid at Christmas, a sentiment Happy echoed eagerly, the two of them practically bouncing in place.

“No,” she informed him bluntly, and the two immediately deflated.

“But why not?” Natsu whined at her, both of them giving her rather convincing puppy dog eyes despite one being a cat and the other a teenager who should be too old for it to work.

“Because my spirits are my friends and family, not tools, and its rude to call on them at someone else’s whim. How would you like it if I called Happy a tool and insisted you make him stop whatever he might be doing to pay attention to me instead?” she pointed out reasonably, knowing now that the best way to get through to Natsu was to put it in terms of people and relationships that he knew and understood well.

“Oh,” Natsu agreed surprisingly thoughtful, “I would be angry. Sorry Lucy.”

“It’s alright,” she assured him pleased that she’d managed to get her point across even if Happy still looked a bit disappointed and that he had actually gotten her name right, though she didn’t hold out much hope that it would stick, “You didn’t know any better, now you do and you won’t do it again.”

“I won’t,” he promised earnestly, then barreled hastily on to the next subject, “But hey do you and your Spirits want to come on a mission with me?”

“A mission?” she repeated a bit dubiously.

“Yeah, here,” Natsu told her shoving a poster that was a bit crumpled but still decipherable at her.

She took it and gently smoothed it out, eying the contents. It was apparently a retrieval mission of sorts, someone wanted a book stolen from a wealthy businessman, and was offering 200,000 jewel for its return. It was interesting to her that Guilds could accept missions like this, which included theft and not get in trouble with the law, but that was mostly down to the vetting process.

According to Mirajane every mission they received was put through a ritual of sorts to determine whether the cause was one the Guild agreed with and within the confines of the law. The whole process was a secret from outsiders, and each Guild apparently had their own way of doing it, but it ensured they didn’t take bogus missions, or missions that would get them in trouble with the ruling family of Fiore.

She’d been really curious about what magic could do something like that, but hadn’t pressed, especially since she was really only a guest of the bar and not a member of the Guild, though Mirajane had admitted it was an ancient magic passed on from Master to Master in every Guild.

In the case of this mission, which involved theft, it likely meant that the book in question actually belonged to the person who was requesting they retrieve it, which made sense. However she was a little confused about why Natsu was asking her to do it with him, especially since when Cana had explained the normal teams who regularly paired up, Natsu and Happy were mentioned as partners that never really worked with anyone else, mostly because keeping them in line was a bit of a chore. Or at least she was confused right up until she saw the note that the person they were meant to steal from was a pervert and currently looking to hire a blond maid.

“No, thank you,” she told him handing the paper back to him her lips twisting in distaste. She really hated perverts of all kinds, but especially those who took advantage of those in their service and had no desire to be bait.

“But Lucy!” Natsu cajoled looking at her with those damnable puppy eyes again, “It will be fun! You’ve never been on a mission before right? You could really like it if you tried it, and the pay is really good!”

“Look Natsu, even if I wanted to go with you I couldn’t,” she explained hoping to take the easiest way out, “This is a mission meant for Fairy Tail and I’m not a Fairy Tail mage, so I can’t. Try asking one of your Guild Mates.”

“Actually,” Mirajane piped in from where she’d apparently finished helping out her customer, “We do allow non Guild mages to accompany us on missions at times, both from allied Guilds and the occasional freelancer, and because they aren’t Guild they don’t have to pay the usual fees so get a bigger portion of the reward. Therefore you would be allowed to go if you wanted to I could sign you up no problem.”

“See! You could come,” Natsu agreed eagerly, as she shot the bartender a dirty look, earning an amused and slightly mischievous smile in return, “And you’ll get paid and everything come on Lucy please?”

“Why not ask one of your Guild Mates,” she tried again even though she could feel her resistance slowly crumbling. Despite some of her issues with Natsu she couldn’t deny the guy was charismatic and reminded her a bit of a puppy stumbling helplessly around and givng her an unnatural urge to look after it.

“They don’t want to go with me,” Natsu told her matter-of-factly, so much so that it actually made her heart hurt a bit at how casually he was able to brush that off, “I’m too destructive.”

Hesitantly she glanced at Padfoot to see what he thought, but he actually looked kind of interested and at her look explained, “It could be interesting going on a real Mage Mission.”

“Yeah Lucy,” Happy chimed in, in agreement, “It’s lots of fun. You’ll like it a lot!”

Under the weight of the combined puppy eyes of Natsu and Happy, and the clear expectation of Mirajane and Padfoot she didn’t stand a chance.

“Fine,” she agreed with a heavy sigh, a part of her well aware this was likely going to be a pain, but another part quietly looking forward to an adventure as the group all cheered at her agreement.

“But I’m not dressing up like a maid,” she insisted, so they knew she wasn’t completely giving into their plans. It wouldn’t be that bad right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! First and most importantly I want to say a huge thank you to everyone who donated to help me out with my dog Shepherd it meant so much to me, so much so it's almost impossible to put into words. Thanks to you I had enough faith in my ability to pay that I went ahead with his surgery and he's now doing really well. If you want to know more there will be an update over on Tumblr!
> 
> Second I know I said this story was going to be on hiatus for a while due to issues with my fur baby and I want to emphasize that it is absolutely **still on Hiatus!** This chapter is only going up because Hiniko was incredibly clever and kind and went around and bought a commission for this chapter, so big thank you to them as well! 
> 
> I desperately need to pay off the debt especially since its accumulating interest every month, so writing or doing anything really that isn't earning me money in some way is unfortunately out of the question until I get it paid off. So I'm sorry but please don't expect updates.
> 
> Thank you for reading this long note if you stuck around for the full thing. I know it was a pain, and thank you again to all of you seriously amazing people who helped me out or who thought about me or sent well wishes. I seriously love you all, you made me cry with how sweet and generous you were. Much love to you all, and everyone please stay healthy and safe, especially with the big election coming up here in the U.S!
> 
> P.S it has come to my attention that mentioning making money on this site is a very bad idea, so any mention from now on will only be on Tumblr.


	6. Chapter 6

“Have you tried taking motion sickness medication?” Lucy asked Natsu, partly out of concern for the pink haired teen who was once again groaning on the seat of the carriage they’d rented like he might hurl or die at any minute, and partly out of annoyance at his whining.

“Doesn’t work,” Natsu managed to groan out clutching his stomach with one hand and a barf bag in the other.

“I wonder why,” she mused aloud curious. Most medicines in this world seemed to work a lot like potions in her last life which meant unless you had a specific allergy or built up an immunity they always worked, unlike muggle medicine which could be hit or miss sometimes and varied in effect from person to person.

“Master says it’s because of his magic,” Happy piped up from the seat next to her where he was munching on his snacks, which smelled strongly of fish, and likely weren’t helping Natsu’s nausea issue. She was just glad she had a fairly strong stomach herself, otherwise she’d probably be feeling a little sick from the scent too.

Luckily, they didn’t have to take the carriage too far, though that was mostly down to the fact that they’d taken the fastest train to cut down on travel time. Even still it had taken them a full three days to reach their destination. The town was nice though, and fairly idyllic. They even managed to time their arrival so they got there just in time for lunch, which helped quell some of Natsu’s unhappy whining about being forced to take the train when he’d wanted to walk. She’d been the one to insist, mostly because if they walked it would’ve taken them a couple weeks to even get to their destination and by then someone doubtless would’ve beat them to it.

It also wouldn’t have been worth her time as the reward split two ways between her and Natsu would only just have managed to cover her rent and some other small expenses. Technically she didn’t need the money, but Natsu and the other guild members didn’t technically know that, and while she did enjoy adventures her time was also something she didn’t want to waste. Taking what amounted to essentially a month-long hike for no real reason or any important stops to make along the way when she could just as easily take the train and take less than half the time would definitely qualify as a waste.

With their bellies comfortably full the first step was apparently to track down the client, something she let Natsu take the lead on, as technically it was his mission and she was just there to assist. Hanging back, she realized there was something a little off about both the mission and the client and that was before the man even opened his mouth to speak.

The home they’d been directed to looked like a mansion of sorts, but the door had been answered by the client, who’d introduced himself as Kaby Melon. Lucy, as a former mansion dweller was well aware that with the kind of wealth this man was claiming to have that he should’ve at least been able to afford a butler. It wasn’t completely out of the question that he and his wife were eccentric enough or paranoid enough to not want servants around, but it still struck her as extremely odd.

The room they had their meeting in was also fairly odd. It seemed incredibly empty compared to what she might’ve expected from wealthy home owners. In her experience the rich liked to flaunt their wealth to the point of gaudiness, with priceless art, plush carpets, and all kinds of expensive fragile things cluttering up their space that made a person wary of walking around lest they accidentally bump into something and break it. This was the opposite of that, almost bare, with just a few things scattered about here and there. She supposed it could be they were very minimalist in style, but it just felt incredibly off.

She didn’t pay too much attention to Kaby as he briefed them on what he wanted from the mission, mostly because it was all information she already had from the flier. Basically, there was a book called _DayBreak_ that a man called Duke Everlue had in his home that Kaby wanted destroyed. 

Instead she paid far more attention to the man’s wife. She looked distinctly uncomfortable in the dress she was wearing, fidgeting and tugging at it discreetly in a way that reminded her or herself back when she was being forced into some of her uncomfortable and stuffy ballgowns as a child. Her fingers also kept running over her necklace or tugging at her earrings, almost as if to reassure herself they were still there. It was very odd and definitely not the kind of thing she would’ve expected from a woman who grew up with opulence. Lucy herself had been trained out of unladylike fidgeting at a fairly young age, but she supposed the woman might have married into wealth? Still something about this whole thing just felt off, and she wasn’t in the habit of ignoring her gut feelings.

She was so caught up in her thoughts, she almost didn’t hear Natsu mentioning burning the whole of Duke Everlue’s mansion to the ground. Luckily Padfoot’s subtle nudge from where he was hiding in her shadow, where the clients couldn’t see or potentially be alarmed by him, focused her back on the present.

“We are not burning down the mansion,” she told her companion firmly. She’d been made aware by Mirajane before she left that Natsu was, perhaps unsurprisingly considering his magic and upbringing, a bit of a firebug. She had absolutely no intention of having arson charges leveled against her, or potentially having the entire of Shirotsume go up in flames if things got out of hand.

“But Luigi!” Natsu whined.

“No Natsu,” she scolded firmly, “I’m telling you right now if there are any damages or fines the entirety of it will come out of your part of the reward. No burning.”

“Fine,” he acknowledged with a small grin that let her know he’d at least partially been joking about burning it down, which was a bit of a relief. It was sometimes hard to tell with Natsu when he was joking about doing stupid things or when he was actually serious.

“I am curious though,” she admitted turning her attention to their client, “What’s so special about this book that makes it worth two hundred _thousand_ jewel?”

It was actually something that had been bugging her a bit. She knew of course, that there were books out there that were worth that kind of price tag, rare tomes, and little black books of blackmail and the like, but from what she could tell, and from the limited description they’d been given it seemed like a fairly ordinary book.

“Not two hundred thousand,” the man told them with a puzzled frown, which had her breathing out a breath that was mixed relief and exasperation. There must’ve been a mix-up somewhere along the line and the book was only worth twenty thousand, still quite a bit more expensive than the average book, but not completely unreasonable. Still it did make the reward rather paltry, especially since she’d be splitting it with Natsu, which was rather disappointing.

“Two million,” the man corrected, making Lucy choke on air. It seemed she’d been a little too hasty in her relief.

“Two million?” she repeated flabbergasted while Natsu and Happy sputtered in the background.

“That much?! Two million, even divided by three would be enough to buy so much fish!” Happy crowed triumphantly.

“Three?” Lucy asked with a frown, “I thought we were splitting half and half.”

“Oy,” Natsu warned her, his voice taking on an edge of danger that had her hands reflexively twitching for her keys, “Happy is my partner, and he gets equal share. He’s a member of Fairy Tail too.”

“Yes, well Padfoot is my partner,” she snapped back annoyed at the way he always seemed to jump to conclusions, specifically the wrong conclusions, “And I figured the money was going to be split between the two partnerships and then however you split with Happy and I split with Padfoot was up to us.”

“Oh!” Natsu acknowledged brightening back up immediately, his swift change in moods practically giving her whiplash, “That’s right! I forgot Padfoot was with us since he always hides! Sorry Lucy, Padfoot, I won’t forget again. It’s just that normally a lot of people discount Happy just because he isn’t human, so I need to remind them you know?”

Lucy couldn’t help but sigh at that, out of sight out of mind seemed to really ring true for Natsu. She was just glad he hadn’t managed to throw a fit and been properly diverted. Plus, if what he said was true, and looking at Happy’s slightly sad expression she’d guess it was, then she could understand being a bit defensive. 

She hadn’t been around them all that long yet, but it had been clear to her within an hour of meeting the duo that they were basically family to each other. They honestly reminded her a lot of the bond she had with her spirits, which definitely made her more sympathetic to him. Besides, even if they were meant to be partners for this mission Natsu didn’t actually know her all that well yet, so it was understandable that he’d make assumptions about her based on his interactions with others.

“It’s fine. I know that Happy is really important too,” she told him with a slight smile, “Just please stop assuming the worst of me okay? First Macao, now this?”

“Right,” Natsu agreed rubbing the back of his head sheepishly, “Sorry Lucy I’ll try to be better.”

“I’ll help!” Happy agreed cheerfully, piping up for the first time, looking more perky now that she’d acknowledged him as well, “There’s no one better at wrangling Natsu than me!”

“I believe it,” Lucy told him with a laugh then turned back to their client who’d been watching with wary fascination, “Sorry you had to see all that, we’re new to working together, but we are both good at these kinds of things, and will try to be more professional from now on.”

“No, no,” he hastily reassured her with a kind smile that did feel fairly genuine to her, “It’s alright. I’ve heard good things about the Fairy Tail Guild, so I’m not worried you’ll complete the job I asked of you.”

“But what is it exactly that makes this book worth so much?” she pressed, figuring it was about time to get back to what they were actually there for. After all, two hundred thousand seemed excessive to her, two million just seemed unfathomably ludicrous. Her question instantly made the smile fall off his face, and he clenched his hands together in his lap looking genuinely distressed.

“DayBreak is a book I simply cannot allow to exist,” Kaby told them, clear passion and a faint hint of hysteria in his voice that had his wife stepping forward to squeeze his shoulder comfortingly. The distress in his voice at least did seem very genuine to her, which was a bit of a relief, clearly something about that book was personal to the man, and she honestly had her money set on blackmail.

Unfortunately, she didn’t get the chance to ask more questions as Natsu surged up from his spot beside her, and shouted, “Don’t worry Melon dude we’ll get that book for you! I’m all fired up!”

Lucy yelped as she was literally yanked off her feet, by Natsu’s surprisingly strong grip on her wrist, as he dashed out the door Happy cheering alongside them as he sprinted off in his excitement with her flailing along behind a bit like a helpless kite in the wind. Luckily her training meant she did manage to get her feet under her and with Padfoot’s help she managed to brace herself enough to drag Natsu to a halt.

“What’s the hold up Luigi?” Natsu asked clearly surprised to be stopped.

“Natsu you can’t just go rushing in, and I had more questions for the client. He never even told us why he wanted the book in the first place,” she told him exasperated.

“Does it matter?” Natsu asked surprisingly reasonable, “We were asked to destroy the book, that’s all there is to it really.”

It was a surprisingly simplistic, but not unnecessarily wrong way of thinking. Still the thought of doing something simply because she was hired to do it, without knowing the hows and the whys of it made her extremely uncomfortable. 

“What if the book is dangerous? Or what if it’s something really important, like evidence or something? What if someone else needs the book for something vital? Without knowing why he wants the book destroyed in the first place, how can we know that it’s the right thing to do? What if Kaby Melon is the bad guy in this situation and Duke Everlue is the good one?” she questioned doing her best to make the impulsive dragon slayer understand.

“That’s easy!” Natsu assured her with a wide smile, “The Guild vetted the mission, so Melon guy must be in the right of it, otherwise we never would’ve accepted it, that’s the Fairy Tail way!”

She supposed for him that did make sense, and she couldn’t protest without making it look like she didn’t trust Fairy Tail. She didn’t. She didn’t know Fairy Tail outside the handful of people from the Guild she’d met and befriended, and even them she wouldn’t call particularly close. Plus, she hadn’t gotten the best impression of its master Makarov when Macao was missing, and honestly had found the Fairy Tail way so far to be a tad misogynistic if she was being honest.

However, she didn’t think her concerns would go down very well with Natsu. Long experience had taught her that arguing with zealots who firmly believed in institutions or people was nearly impossible. They just couldn’t be reasoned with, not really. She couldn’t count the number of times she’d tried to convince the Weasleys that Dumbledore really hadn’t been the paragon of light and virtue they believed him to be in the aftermath of the war and been completely unsuccessful outside of George, Bill, and Percy. Molly in particular had near deified the man and wouldn’t hear a word against him. 

It had been an exercise in frustration, and not something she was keen to repeat, especially since she had the strangest feeling Natsu’s stubbornness could put Molly Weasley’s to shame. That didn’t mean she was ready to give up entirely though.

“You don’t think that Kaby Melon was suspicious at all?” she tried, knowing that, if nothing else Natsu did seem to have very good instincts.

“You’re right,” Natsu told her with a firm nod his arms folded across his chest and a thoughtful look on his face that had her letting out a breath of relief, “Something about him did smell kind of funny. But I think that he’s a good guy you know? So, we should help him out!”

Lucy groaned and looked at Happy for help, but the blue cat just shrugged at her, clearly willing to go along with Natsu on this one. On one hand she admired Natsu’s simpler thought process and his ability to have faith both in people and in a Guild, he clearly loved. On the other hand, she kind of wanted to strangle him for the exact same reasons.

“If nothing else, the client didn’t say you couldn’t read the book yourself,” Padfoot murmured into her ear as she resignedly followed Natsu and Happy toward the Everlue Mansion the townspeople directed them toward, “That way you can make your own judgment.”

“Good point,” she agreed with a wry smile, comforted by the thought, and by his presence, reminded that she wasn’t actually outnumbered by Happy and Natsu, “And I suppose we have to worry about finding the book itself first.”

Finding the book was going to be easier said than done as she eyed the enormous metal gate surrounding the mansion that supposedly housed the book and Duke Everlue. It was incredibly imposing, and at the very least it did at least look impressive. However, with Virgo and Padfoot, both well able to dig under it, it wouldn’t be that difficult, the problem was the sheer size of everything. Looking for a single book in a mansion that size was going to be like looking for a needle in a haystack.

“Are you sure you don’t want to try dressing up as a maid and sneaking in?” Happy asked her sincerely, clearly reading the unhappy expression on her face, but misinterpreting it as concern over the breaking and entering part of the mission.

“I’ll pass,” she told him dryly.

“Then there’s only one way forward!” Natsu cheered rolling up his metaphorical sleeves, “Plan T!”

“Plan T!” Happy echoed with a joyful cheer that did nothing to assuage the concern she felt about this unknown plan.

“And what exactly is Plan T?” she demanded, snagging Natsu firmly by his scarf and refusing to let him leave the cover of the tree line and march right up to the gates the way he was clearly planning to do.

“It’s Plan T,” Natsu told her as if it should be completely obvious, then elaborated, “Take them head on!”

“I don’t think so,” she scolded firmly, “Just because technically we can’t get in trouble after the fact, doesn’t mean we can’t get the Rune Knights called on us for attacking the mansion or causing property damage.”

“Then what do you suggest Luigi?” Natsu asked clearly exasperated.

“Plan B,” she informed him, glancing at Padfoot in askance, and immediately getting a nod of agreement.

“Plan B?” Happy asked clearly confused.

“Yep,” she agreed with a smirk, “Breaking and entering it is.”

♈️ ♉️ ♊️ ♋️ ♌️ ♍️ ♎️ ♏️ ♐️ ♑️ ♒️ ♓️

With the help of Padfoot to get them under the wall, and Happy to fly the them up to the roof it didn’t take too long for them to find their way inside the mansion in a manner Lucy hoped was undetected. As a precaution she had Padfoot keep hidden in her shadow, so they’d have back-up that hopefully the Duke wouldn’t know about.

The room they’d broken into thanks to Natsu silently melting the glass seemed to be some kind of storage room, with all kinds of odds and ends on various shelves, and several full suits of armor. It was honestly exactly the kind of opulent and worthless knickknacks that had been decidedly missing in the Kaby residence. Unfortunately, if all the rooms were this full it was going to make finding the book they were after incredibly difficult. It really could be anywhere in the mansion.

“Check this out!” Happy cheered, pulling her from her inspection of several dusty old tomes that almost made her sneeze. The cat was clearly playing, and had what looked like some kind of animal skull on his head.

“Ohh Happy so cool!” Natsu shouted eagerly, making her wince.

“Shh!” she reprimanded firmly, “You’re going to get us caught.”

“But Lucy, we have no idea where the book is,” Natsu told her reasonably, voicing the thought she herself had just been having, “So wouldn’t it be a good idea to track down someone and ask where it is?”

“That might work if we had any way of ensuring they didn’t report us to Duke Everlue and that they told us the truth,” she told him with a helpless shrug, “But as it is, our best bet is to try to remain undetected for as long as possible, do as through a search as we can manage, and hope for the best.”

“Which means,” she bit out unhappily as Natsu accidentally knocked into a metal vase and sent it to the ground with a loud clatter, “Being silent and stealthy!”

“It’s no use,” she murmured despairingly to Padfoot as she realized that Natsu wasn’t even listening to her anymore, “Remind me again why I agreed to come on this mission again?”

“Because we thought it would be an interesting adventure,” Padfoot told her, snickering slightly as Natsu tripped over something, got his foot stuck in an urn and went headfirst into a suit of armor, “And you have to admit, at the very least this is very entertaining.”

“How does he ever get anything done?” she asked completely and utterly baffled.

“Who knows,” her longest companion told her with a canine shrug, “Probably sheer dumb luck.”

She sighed in acknowledgment and decided there was really nothing she could do except try to complete the mission with the limitations she had. Which meant it was time to move on to a new plan.

Quickly she dipped her hand into her requip space, running her fingers along all her keys, and finding the one she needed by touch. She smiled slightly as she eyed the silver key, whose constellation inscription in the bow was colored in such a way that unless it was at the exact right angle to catch the light, disappeared entirely, blending in with the silver metal so you’d never know what it was. It also had a bit of an interesting texture to it that was almost unnoticeable, but felt like pebbled skin under her fingertips when she took the time to inspect it closely, and its cuts were shaped like a climbing lizard clinging to a branch.

It was one of her easiest keys to find by feel, and she quickly summoned the connected spirit, so used to it by now that she didn’t even need the words, or more than a thought and a touch of her power for her friend to appear with a nearly silent puff of magic.

“Cam,” she greeted with a warm smile for the shy spirit, whose eyes were darting around a bit anxiously, spinning in different directions to take in the entirety of the room before settling on her.

“You called princess?” the Chameleon Spirit, who preferred to be called Cam for short, greeted quietly.

“I did Cam. I could really use your help if you have time for me,” she told him gently. He was one of her Spirits who’d told her right away he didn’t mind being called at any time. He’d been a bit despairing of it when he’d told her, and she got the impression that he didn’t expect to ever be called on, that the reason he’d left his availability so open wasn’t because he necessarily wanted to, but because he was afraid it was his only hope of being summoned.

It had broken her heart a bit, and she really hadn’t understood at all. Sure, most wizards only saw Spirits as tools, but Cam was a phenomenally useful Spirit, able to hide and sneak around undetected almost anywhere, which made the fact that he almost never got called on completely ridiculous to her. Just because he wasn’t a battle spirit didn’t mean he wasn’t useful or skilled. 

More importantly though, he was a sweetheart, incredibly self-conscious of his appearance, but kind and good, and he deserved to be treated like the wonderful being he was, which was why she’d made it a point since getting his key for her own to summon him every month at least once so the two of them could just hang out together and do whatever caught their interest.

He’d been a bit reluctant at first, unsure why she’d want him around, but she thought she was slowly but surely winning him over. It would take more time, of that she was sure, but she was more than capable of being patient, especially when it came to her precious family members.

“I always have time for you hime,” Cam assured her earnestly, pulling her from her thoughts, but then shyly tacking on, “Are you sure I would be useful though?”

“Of course,” she assured him with a smile, “You’re perfect for this. You see I really need to be able to sneak around here undetected, and I already know you’ll be able to help me with that.”

“I’m only able to hide one person at a time hime,” Cam reminded her, rather diplomatically given the absolutely dubious look he was giving Natsu and Happy who were so fascinated with a sword they’d found on a shelf that they hadn’t even noticed her summoning Cam. That trying to hide the two would be a completely endeavor given how much noise they were making was left unsaid.

“That’s fine,” she told him with an exasperated look in the duo’s direction, “I only need you to hide me. They’re the diversion.”

“Oh, okay,” Cam told her looking incredibly relieved, “I can do that.”

“Thank you so much,” she beamed at him, “Just like we practiced right?”

Cam nodded and accepted the hand she held out, and despite the incredibly odd feeling of his fingers she made sure not to flinch or indicate in any way that she was averse to touching him, well aware that it could and would hurt his feelings. He immediately shrunk into his smaller form, dainty claws careful not to sink her skin as he crawled up her arm and settled around her neck.

The effect was almost immediate and she watched in fascination as she slowly faded from view. Having Cam touch her was a bit like wearing her old invisibility cloak. They’d discovered through experimentation that the best way to collaborate was to have him wrapped around her neck, where he could see and make observations directly into her ear if needed and wouldn’t accidentally fall off.

Being in contact with him also gave her increased climbing ability, so much so she could actually go straight up vertical walls and even cling to the ceiling for short periods of time. Between him and Padfoot to watch her back they were the ultimate stealth team. Technically Cam could cast invisibility magic on her even when he wasn’t touching her skin, but it never seemed to work as well. It was more like the disillusionment spell where you could still kind of see an outline, and definitely see movement. It had its advantages of course, but she much preferred the full invisibility mode when she had the choice.

“Ah Lucy disappeared!” Happy exclaimed loudly whirling around frantically, finally noticing that she wasn’t actually with them, alerting Natsu who also began to look around, appearing deeply concerned and Happy called for her, “Lucy? Lucy where’d you go? Are you okay? Did Duke Evergreen get you?”

“Shh!” she scolded despite knowing it was mostly useless to try to make them be quieter, almost certain that someone had to have heard the odd shouting from the storage room by now, “I’m still here you just can’t see me, and it’s Everlue not Evergreen.”

“Whoa!” Natsu exclaimed clearly fascinated as he glanced around before zeroing in on her, approaching with his hands out and nearly groping her accidentally before she grabbed on to his hands to keep him from doing so, “Lucy I can smell you and, hear you, your heartbeat and breathing are still there and I can feel you but I can’t see you at all! I didn’t know you knew invisibility magic!”

“That’s because I don’t,” she told him admittedly a little amused by his fascination as Happy approached cautiously and managed to find her leg, gently poking it with one of his paws looking absolutely fascinated, “But one of my Spirit’s does. He’s helping me out.”

“That’s so cool!” Natsu shouted, literal stars in his eyes and she officially gave up on trying to make him be quiet, “Can they do it for me too?”

“Sorry Natsu, while Cam is pretty cool his magic is something that only works for me at the moment,” Lucy told him stretching the truth a bit, but figuring it was for the best. Technically Cam could, but he’d have to release his hold on her first, which would be fairly detrimental to the mission all things considered.

“Aww,” Natsu whined, disappointed, but also clearly accepting, “I wanted to be invisible too! You’re like a ninja!”

“I’ve always wanted to be a ninja,” Happy noted wistfully.

“Right?” Natsu asked clearly ecstatic, “Ninja’s are so cool. Lucy your magic is so cool!”

“Thanks, Natsu,” she told him, noting that he’d used her real name for once, and wondering if this was the time it would finally stick, “But it’s not my magic, it’s Cam’s. He’s the cool one.”

“Cam huh?” Natsu questioned clearly intrigued his nose wrinkling a bit as he clearly sniffed the air around her face, a bit like a dog honestly, not that she’d ever tell him or Padfoot that as she was sure both would get offended, “Is he the new scent on you? Is he with you and invisible too? That’s so cool! Cam you’re so cool!”

She felt her Chameleon Spirit stiffen a bit on her shoulder, shocked incredulity coming off him in waves at being so openly complimented by someone, and she was sure if she could see him he’d be blushing up a storm.

“You must be an amazing ninja!” Natsu continued not giving the poor Spirit even a second to answer, “I’m going to be an amazing ninja just like you Cam!”

With that he whirled away, wrapping his scarf around his hair and lower face like a mask and holding his hands together as a pose reminiscent of a ninja anime she vaguely remembered seeing from another life, shouting at Happy to join him as they burst out of the room together, saying something about ‘nin-nin’ as they made their way down the halls, leaving Lucy standing dumbfounded behind them.

She made her way to the doorway and watched incredulously as they pretended to hide behind various plants and statues, peering around corners like spies from a James Bond movie, and looking completely and utterly conspicuous and ridiculous.

“A cool ninja?” Cam muttered quietly from her neck, the words would’ve been inaudible if he hadn’t been so close to her ear, but as he was she clearly heard the quiet awe in his voice, as if he’d been struck by a revelation. Her heart softened in response, and she could feel gratitude for Natsu’s open and sincere words to her shy Spirit. He was ridiculous sure, but he was also very kind, and she knew it had meant a lot to her friend, which meant a lot to her, and she reminded herself not to judge him too harshly in the future for his wild antics.

Her new resolve was immediately tested as several maids appeared, and spotted him immediately all of them yelling about an intruder. Apparently, they weren’t ordinary maids either, because unlike the maids she’d known they didn’t immediately try to make a run for it, and instead chose to try to attack Natsu, which was a bit of a surprise. However apparently, he had things well in hand, and was clearly having the time of his life if the grin on his face was any indication, which meant she felt safe to leave him and get to work on the actual mission. 

“Let me know if anyone starts heading our way,” she murmured quietly to her two companions, Cam around her neck, and Padfoot who was slipping along in the shadows behind her, earning a nod against her neck from Cam and a quiet whuff from her canine companion.

Figuring there was really nothing else for it she started to go through the rooms one by one. Most of them were fairly ordinary rooms for a mansion and not unlike some of the ones she herself had back in the Heartfilia mansion, full of opulence, grand instruments and expensive looking furniture and décor.

However, there were also a couple of extremely strange rooms that indicated an extremely eccentric person owned the place that never would’ve been allowed by anyone with taste. The most disturbing of these rooms was entirely covered in gold and had a bust of a man’s head on the golden toilet, one that looked suspiciously like the portrait that had been on the poster. It was positioned in such a way that any woman who wanted to sit on the toilet would have to straddle the head, and her lip curled with disgust. It was no wonder really that the poster warned he was a pervert, though she did get some of her own twisted kind of amusement at realizing that any man who peed would likely dribble on the head as well.

Still despite some of her disturbing findings she was having no luck finding the book, even if she was doing a fairly good job at remaining undetected. She hadn’t come across anyone else yet at all, which she put down to Natsu’s unintentional diversion as he was still yelling rather loudly from somewhere a ways down the hall.

However, she finally hit on the jackpot. A library, and a big one, exactly the right kind of place. She just hoped it was there and not locked up somewhere special otherwise this was going to be an exercise in frustration.

“It’ll take forever to get through all of these on our own,” Padfoot noted quietly into her ear as she slowly began to scan the shelves, completely unsurprised to find whole sections dedicated completely to porn, “Maybe it’s time to call in more back-up?”

She hesitated. On one hand, having another spirit, in this case probably Grandpa Crux, whose reading speed was lightyears faster than her own and who was very familiar with all kinds of library layouts, would make the whole process infinitely faster and far less painful. On the other hand, she was trying to remain undetected.

“I can probably cover one more person,” Cam volunteered slowly, clearly hesitant but confidence apparently bolstered a bit by Natsu’s earlier praise otherwise he never would’ve spoken at all, “It won’t be very good, a bit like camouflage and not any sort of invisibility, so maybe it’s a bad idea sorry.”

“No, no!” she hastily reassured the Chameleon, wanting to encourage more of that confidence, especially since it was actually viable as a plan as long as they were quick, “That’s great Cam, let me just summon Grandpa Crux and we’ll get to work!”

“O-okay!” Cam stuttered out, nervous but clearly pleased by the praise, “I’ll do my best Lucy-hime!”

Just as predicted it went a lot faster with Crux’s willing help. The elderly spirit practically zooming through the shelves. He was also fairly visible, pieces of him shimmering in and out of focus if one looked long enough, but at a quick glance he would be incredibly hard to spot.

“Here it is!” Crux announced after several tense minutes as Padfoot, who admittedly wasn’t the fastest reader around kept watch on the door and Lucy and Cam scanned shelves together, Lucy doing her best not to give into her urge to fetch Natsu and have him burn the whole room down the way he’d originally planned.

She had nothing against porn or sex work for that matter. It was a thing that happened and so long as everything was consensual she was perfectly happy to ignore it. However, some of Duke Everlue’s porn books looked less like consensual media and more like blackmail material or disturbing fantasies come to life, some of the names on the spines vaguely familiar. Which of course meant she was incredibly relieved to have Crux find the book and not have to spend any more time looking at the disgusting titles she’d been forced to read.

Given everything that she’d been reading during her browsing, she’d honestly expected more of the same when it came to Daybreak. Considering some of the things she’d seen she was fully ready to burn the book and had begun to think it was some kind of awful fantasy book about someone Kaby Melon cared about, which would explain why he’d wanted it destroyed so badly.

However, that wasn’t what she got. A quick look at the cover showed nothing incriminating or disgusting, just a simple picture of a sunset. In fact, the only interesting thing on the cover was actually the name of the author Kemu Zaleon. It was actually a name she recognized. She’d read some of his works before. One of his more famous series was actually about an intrepid and rather clever wizard that she’d actually enjoyed a lot, especially as it was very clear Kemu Zaleon was either a mage himself or had worked fairly closely with one before as some of his descriptors were very realistic.

It gave her pause as she inspected the strange golden cover, wondering why this, of all the really terrible books she’d seen, was the one Kaby Melon wanted destroyed.

“Crux have you heard of this book before?” she asked passing it back to the Spirit who was far more widely read than she could ever hope to be, hoping he had some kind of insight. 

“While I’ve read a great many of Kemu Zaleon’s books and enjoyed them a great deal I don’t believe I’ve ever had the pleasure,” Crux told her eyeing it a bit wistfully, before passing it back, “It must be one of his unpublished works, that or exceedingly rare.”

“That it most certainly is,” a new voice piped in, nearly making her jump out of her skin, and she whirled around trying to find the source as Padfoot began to growl.

“You know I’d wondered why all these wizards seemed to be trying to break into my home,” the voice continued thoughtfully, “I never realized it was for that stupid book. Good thing I installed some more security otherwise I never would’ve found out!”

With that she was finally able to locate the source, a lacrima on the wall, in fact on closer inspection she realized there were several lacrima embedded around the room no doubt the equivalent of a security system. She cursed herself for not checking for something like that, and being so complacent, but did comfort herself in that such systems, unlike in her last life, were fiendishly expensive. Only the richest of the rich could afford it, which did excuse her not thinking of it to some extent, even if in hindsight it would make sense for a man with a literal gold-plated bathroom to have one.

However, the fact that he was calling the book stupid of all things, when Kaby Melon was insistent the book was worth two million jewel spiked her suspicions once again, both for the client and for Duke Everlue.

“I’ll admit you’re at least cleverer than most of the mages who broke in,” Duke Everlue continued, clearly prone to monologue, not surprising given the obvious ego on the man, “The invisibility was clever, but the floating books kind of give you away hmm?”

“I’m sorry!” Cam squeaked in her ear, clearly mortified at the oversight.

“Hey no,” she quickly assured him in an undertone, “that one’s on me. It’s my fault. I didn’t even think about it.”

“Now I think I’m going to have to take a closer look at that book,” Everlue told her, making her hands automatically tighten on the cover, “So I’ll just be taking it.”

Before she could do or say anything she felt an immense pressure settle over her shoulders, as if a giant hand was suddenly forcing her to the ground. She let out a surprised yelp as her legs gave out from under her, unable to withstand the pressure, earning an alarmed exclamation from both Crux, and Padfoot. Her body felt heavy, like she was trying to move through thick sticky syrup as she fought to keep herself up, but eventually was pushed flat, her knees and hands sliding out from underneath her even as she tried to keep a grip on her prize.

She let out a slew of curses as one of the library shelves slid back revealing three figures, two men and a woman, all of them with slightly Asian features. One of the men seemed to be wielding an odd weapon of some sort that was shaped like a frying pan of all things, and the other had hair shaped like a star. The woman though was probably the strangest of all given she had what looked like the trays from scales dangling from her fingertips on each hand.

“I’ll take this,” one of the men, the one with the weird hair told her, managing to pry it out of her fingers, the cover too slippery for her to hold on to.

“Now where are you exactly?” he asked patting the ground around her before finally finding the back of her head, his fingers tangling in her hair and yanking hard making her yelp in surprise and pain as he exclaimed, “Got you!”

However, her own pain was quickly echoed as he yowled in clear shock, and Lucy managed to fight off enough of whatever was holding her down in time to see Cam, brave Cam latched firmly on to his hand, small but sharp teeth dug into the meat of his palm between his thumb and forefinger.

Unfortunately, in his smaller form he didn’t have much weight and the man who was rather large, clearly well over six feet in height managed to send his small body flying through the air and crashing into one of the bookshelves.

“Cam!” she shouted in alarm, fighting desperately to get her feet back under her and get up from whatever magic was forcing her down, her own magic beginning to rise and swirl around her rather dangerously.

“Well, well visible at last, are you?” Everlue’s voice asked, something in his tone that made her shudder with revulsion, “And such a pretty thing too. Libra bring her to me!”

The woman stepped forward as Lucy was stunned into silence at the name. Taking a closer look and forcing herself to stop panicking for a minute she did recognize the energy radiating from the woman. She was a little shocked she hadn’t noticed before, but then she’d been caught up in her head a bit about the whole screwing up the mission thing.

“Libra?” she repeated a bit dumbly.

“Oh? Recognize that name, do you?” Everlue asked, his voice clearly gloating, “Yes Libra, one of the rare golden Celestial Gate keys! It’s actually funny how she came to be in my possession, another wizard just like you actually. One who failed rather spectacularly. We made a bargain she and I, leave Libra in my possession and she leaves with her life. A rather good bargain I should say, a servant for her life, not that either was worth much really. Still a golden key fits my image only the best for the best after all, and Celestial Mage Duke Atticus Everlue has quite the nice ring to it.”

Lucy ground her teeth in frustrated anger both for the Celestial Mage who’d traded Libra away and Duke Everlue, swearing quietly to herself that when she got out of this mess she was going to make him regret his words. Especially when a closer look revealed resigned acceptance written all over what little she could see the Spirit’s face, as if she was used to such treatment. It was infuriating.

It was funny in her last life two people on opposite ends of the spectrum had told her emotion could fuel magic, Dumbledore with his power of love and sacrifice that was both complete rubbish and true at the same time, and Bellatrix who told her she had to really mean it in order to fuel her cruciatus curse. It was also kind of amusing to her that it was a mix of the two that she used most often, righteous fury seeping through her, and powering her magic in this life the same way it had in the last.

“Don’t you ever, _ever_ call yourself a Celestial Mage you pathetic, slimy sack of scum,” she ground out, as her magic slowly but surely overpowered what she now recognized as Libra’s.

“Celestial Mages, true Celestial Mages, aren’t like you,” she hissed out, thinking of her lovely Mother, of Bero, of Spetto the people who’d loved her and raised her to respect the wonderful magic she’d been gifted, “We are honorable in our way, we never break our promises, and we sure as hell don’t treat our Spirits, our friends, our partners, like tools. You are not a Celestial Mage.”

“Oh?” Everlue asked clear disdain in his voice, “And I suppose you think you are? Stupid girl. I used the key I brought Libra here and she must obey I am her master, that makes me a Celestial Mage. None of this magic of friendship garbage you’re spewing necessary.”

“You think so, do you?” Lucy asked quietly, dangerously, “Then I suppose, it’s up to me to teach you differently.”

“I think you’re forgetting something here,” Everlue told her with a laugh, “You don’t even know where I am and even if you did. I wouldn’t even have to lift a finger, but I’m done speaking with you I think. Knock her out and put her in the dungeons, search her for keys and take them too. They’re probably worthless but I might as well add to my collection.”

Libra and the men all took steps forward, clearly determined to follow their orders, but they didn’t get a chance as a body came flying through the doorway knocking the two men off their feet and flying into the bookshelves where they were quickly covered in a rain of heavy books.

“Ah whoops! Oh, hey Lucy,” Natsu greeted as he appeared in the doorway, looking a little ruffled but otherwise unharmed, “You’re visible again! Does that mean Cam had to go home?”

Reminded of her friend she quickly spun around, deeply concerned for the lizard spirit, but he was nowhere to be seen. That was fairly concerning, but she hoped it meant he’d gone home to the Spirit Realms and was safe and away from this mess. Unfortunately, her lapse gave one of the men an opening and she would’ve likely gotten a very large, and very heavy frying pan smashed into her, except Natsu had apparently been looking out for her and managed to grab her arm and pull her away, just in time.

“Oy, who are these clowns?” Natsu asked eying the two men, who’d apparently unearthed themselves from the books, and Libra rather dubiously, which if she was honest was a bit hypocritical considering he still had his scarf wrapped around his hair and face with pink strands sticking out all over the place.

“Look at that mark!” Happy exclaimed drawing her attention. Apparently, the little blue cat was alright as well, which was a relief, not that she’d been too worried, both of them had proved they were capable of taking care of themselves in a physical fight at least, “That’s the mark from the Mercenary Guild the South Wolves!”

“They’re mages hired by Duke Everlue,” Lucy explained, before pointing to the one with the star shaped hair “And that one has the book we need!”

“No problem!” Natsu assured her cracking his knuckles as he eyed the two men as if they were prey a fairly menacing expression on his face for a person who could be so stupidly kind, “I’ll just burn both him and the book at the same time. It’ll be like a two for one special!”

A part of her wanted to protest burning the book just yet. She had a strange feeling about it and wanted to, at the very least learn what it was about. Unfortunately, she didn’t get a chance to voice that thought before she was interrupted.

“You’re awfully cocky brat, especially for a wizard who specializes in fire,” the man with the frying pan told him scoffing at him.

“What does that have to do with anything?” Natsu asked genuinely curious.

“We’re especially skilled against wizards who like fire,” he explained with a smirk, hefting the heavy looking pan over his shoulder with an ease that belied his smaller, more wiry frame.

“Is that so?” Natsu told him completely and utterly unbothered, “We’ll just see about that. I’m all fired up!”

His words were accompanied by a stream of fire from his lips, that took her by surprise, the roar of heat passed her face enough to make her wince slightly as she hurriedly dodged out of the way, not wanting to get caught in the crossfire. Unfortunately, it seemed the man hadn’t been exaggerating when he said they specialized in stopping people like Natsu, as he was easily able to block it with the pan, both men leaping to attack Natsu, which left her to face Libra. She turned toward the Spirit, but the woman wasn’t moving instead just looking at her, reluctance written all over her face. 

“What are you doing you stupid thing? I told you knock her out and bring her to me Libra!” the Duke’s voice ordered, spurring the poor spirit into action.

Libra immediately lifted her scales, clearly going to try that strange magic that had forced her to the ground again. Lucy was unwilling to be hit by it again, but considering she wasn’t sure what it was, it was hard to know how to dodge. Libra hadn’t featured in many of the stories she’d read and heard over the years, probably because she wasn’t one her mother had met or known personally, which unfortunately left her abilities a mystery.

There really weren’t a whole lot of options for her at this point, except to move, and keep moving hoping that Libra needed a stationary target or a clear line of sight for her magic to work. Books and shelves were flying through the air, along with random bursts of fire from Natsu’s fight, which made things both easier and harder at the same time.

It was pretty clear Natsu and Happy were used to fighting like this, and dodging around one another even in close quarters, but he wasn’t very good about factoring her in, which meant she almost got singed more than once as she dodged through the shelves in something a bit like demented hide and seek as she tried to figure out how to defeat Libra. Normally the easiest way to defeat a Celestial Spirit was to defeat whoever held their key, but considering Duke Everlue was hiding somewhere and not within easy reach that option was out. She was honestly stumped and probably would’ve remained that way if not for the timely arrival of her Spirits.

Long experience meant she didn’t even make a sound as she melted and fell backwards into the shadows where Padfoot was, allowing the darkness to conceal them both in a space not unlike the canine’s own personal void of sorts. It was a bit like she imagined requip space to be, only this space was extremely dangerous for anyone who didn’t have Shadow magic to traverse, filled with all kinds of extremely threatening creatures, including demons who could and would drag a person down by their soul in order to devour it. She’d been warned early on that she was never to move in that space without her friend to guide her, lest she get herself lost forever, and she’d never had any real desire to do so. 

“Padfoot,” she breathed in relief, her fingers automatically tangling into his fur, it was something she’d been taught to do the moment Padfoot had started taking her into the shadows as there was no light whatsoever, which meant she couldn’t see a single thing. It was a good thing she’d never been afraid of the dark, that and she trusted her friend implicitly, “Your timing is phenomenal. Any ideas on how we defeat Libra without hurting her to much?”

“I think I can probably be of assistance,” a familiar elderly voice told her, surprising her quite a bit.

“Crux? You’re here too?” she asked. She’d honestly thought the Spirit of the Southern Cross would’ve headed back for the Spirit Realms the moment the fighting started. He’d made it clear from the beginning that he wasn’t a battle spirit, and she didn’t blame him a single bit, not when it was pretty obvious he was fairly physically frail. The last thing she would’ve wanted was for him to get hurt.

“I-I’m here too Lucy-hime,” a quiet voice volunteered, this one surprising her almost more than Crux.

“Cam!” she breathed relieved and concerned all at once, “Thank you so much for trying to help me. Are you alright?”

“The Chameleon is better than alright,” Padfoot butted in, surprising her with how eager he sounded. Padfoot wasn’t unkind necessarily, but she knew he had some trouble relating to Cam’s shyer personality, “He’s brilliant!”

“I was already aware he was brilliant,” she told her canine companion loyally, believing it with the entirety of her being, “But is there some reason in particular you’ve decided to reiterate it?”

“When Cam here saw that all attention was on you and Natsu, he decided to go and be the ninja the annoying little fire bug said he was and stole that book you need right out of the man’s pocket!” Padfoot crowed eagerly, “I was actually covering him with Crux here, which is why it took us a little bit longer to get to you. Sorry about that.”

“That’s fine,” she assured him hastily, “In fact that’s better than fine that’s amazing! Cam you’re brilliant!”

“L-Lucy-hime is too kind,” the Chameleon spirit muttered, clearly bashful, and she thought if she could see his face it would likely be a brilliant red right about now.

“You really have the book?” she asked just to be sure, feeling a little awed and extremely proud of her Spirits and of Cam in particular.

“Right here Lucy-hime,” Crux assured her the gentle thumping sound letting her know he was tapping his hand on it.

“Perfect, then I have a favor to ask of you before you return to the Spirit realms if it’s alright Crux,” she told the Southern Cross.

“It’s alright hime, I’m allowed to tell you about the magical abilities of the other spirits. I can’t give specifics of course, but I can tell you that Libra uses Gravity Magic,” Crux told her kindly, clearly taking a guess at what she wanted and missing the mark entirely, though he did manage to distract her from her original request.

“Gravity Magic,” she repeated thoughtfully her mind racing in a million different directions at once, “That’s a fairly rare thing to come across.”

“Indeed,” Crux agreed, “Libra is definitely one of the trickier Spirits to meet in battle, even light bends to Gravity.”

“But I overpowered her earlier,” Lucy mused aloud, “So like most things brute force probably works, and she didn’t seem capable of pinning me down while I was moving earlier. I really don’t want to hurt her though. It’s not her fault the guy she’s contracted to is such a creep.”

“So, take the key and break the contract,” Padfoot told her casually, and clearly a little exasperated with her.

“But I thought Celestial Spirit Mages weren’t allowed to steal from one another,” Lucy protested confused at why her friend was suddenly mentioning an option that had been reiterated to her by several people was technically against the rules.

“Steal no,” Crux told her wisely, “But among the Celestial Mages it’s pretty common to challenge one another and put their keys at stake for the winner to have, that is perfectly within the rules.”

“But that’s barbaric!” Lucy told him aghast, “I would never agree to put up any of my friends and family in a wager. You’re not objects to be bartered away!”

“Yes, well you’re a Heartfilia and a good girl,” Crux told her, one of his knobby hands managing to find her despite the darkness and patting her head affectionately, “I like to think we raised you right, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen or that it isn’t allowed and in this case it’s probably for the better. Libra would be far better off with you than that terrible excuse for a man.”

“So, I just have to find him and defeat him in battle?” she asked just to clarify frowning, “That seems a bit too easy, and I don’t like the idea that I may someday be up against another Celestial Mage and lose and then they’ll have the right to take all my keys away.”

“Well no, it’s a bit more complicated than that,” Crux assured her, “You can’t just randomly fight someone and take their keys after for you to have them legally by Spirit World standards you need to state what keys you want before the battle, state what keys you’re going to give and at the end they have to officially surrender the keys to you, otherwise it doesn’t count.”

“I can’t do that,” Lucy protested him aghast, “I could never wager one of you! Isn’t there a different way to do it?”

“I’m afraid not Lucy,” Crux told her gently patting her head sympathetically, “The only way to get keys by official standards are if they’re gifted to you, if they’re purchased, or in this approved dueling manner.”

“But Everlue said he took Libra’s key from her previous holder,” Lucy protested feebly, trying desperately to find a work around.

“As I recall he technically traded it for her life, which is unfortunately a form of purchase,” Crux told her sadly, “However because it was under duress you’ll notice Libra isn’t functioning at her full capacity. You said she couldn’t pin you down while you were moving, that’s either because of the restrictions placed on her key and contract because of the manner in which it was obtained, reluctance on her part to do as she’s told, or most likely a mixture of the two.”

“I didn’t realize there could be stipulations put on contracts like that,” Lucy admitted frowning and wondering why she hadn’t been told.

“That’s because we knew you’d never go about trying to take keys that weren’t yours, and the chances of you meeting another person claiming to be a Celestial Mage in Fiore is actually incredibly low, therefore you didn’t need to know,” Crux told her gently apparently reading her mind.

“It’s one of the few things the Celestial Spirit King can do to protect us from bad holders,” Padfoot piped in, “It’s not much, but it’s at least something.”

“But wait, what about Ophiuchus and Pyxis?” Lucy suddenly recalled, “I took those keys from that guy who kidnapped me way back then! Are their contracts limited?”

“There was a little bit of debate about Ophiuchus,” Crux admitted a tad reluctantly, “But technically he wasn’t actually contracted to the man who summoned him that time, so you didn’t technically steal him. On top of that the man who summoned him had actually stolen him, and killed his former holder, who’d also stolen him in the first place, and the last person who’d owned him officially had long since died. Plus, Ophiuchus himself was the one who ordered you to take his key, and well, he is a Black Key, the one wild card and is given some exceptions. In this case he err, put his metaphorical foot down and insisted your contract was legitimate and would take no complaints or objections.”

Somehow that didn’t surprise her. The Serpent could be incredibly stubborn and prideful. He also had a history of eating contractors he disliked, one of the only known Celestial Spirit keys to do be able to inflict harm on their summoner, though she’d heard the Crystal keys could as well, it made sense he would be able to do things like decide whether his contract was fully legitimate or not.

“Pyxis on the other hand was much more straightforward,” Crux continued pulling her from her thoughts, “You didn’t actually take him or the others that were with him, they were seized by members of the law. In these kinds of cases the Celestial Spirit World almost always cedes to Earthland law, which they did. His key was then considered a gift, as it was given to you by members of the law to decide what you wanted to do with it.”

“Well that’s something at least,” she told them breathing a sigh of relief that neither of her spirits was under a limited contract and that she wasn’t in trouble with the Spirit World. She figured she would’ve been told if she had been, but it was nice to be reassured just in case.

“Great, now that you’re reassured we should probably be focusing on Libra. I mean we could hide in here until the fighting is done, but leaving the fire bug and the annoying blue cat thing to do all the work leaves a bad taste in my mouth, plus I don’t think they’ll last long against her, Gravity isn’t something you can really fight with fire,” Padfoot pointed out sardonically.

“Right of course,” Lucy assured him, refocusing on the task at hand, “Even if we can’t get her key, it’s still probably easiest to take out Everlue if we can, but we’ve got to find him first.”

“W-We’re not rescuing Libra?” Cam piped up for the first time clearly surprised, “B-but why not? That man is terrible! We shouldn’t leave her with him. B-Being with a bad master is a-awful, the worst thing in the w-world. I think it’s better to have n-no master sometimes than a bad one like him.”

“I don’t want to,” she told her spirit grimly, “But we don’t have any other choice. I won’t risk any of you, which means I can’t wager any of my keys for his, which means I can’t take her from him legally. I’ve considered doing in illegally, but I don’t want to risk getting any of you in trouble in the Spirit World either, or to force any sort of limits on a contract, so I don’t have many options.”

“Y-You can use my key,” Cam told her, his voice shaky but determined, “I-I know I’m n-not worth much, and he may not except, b-but we should try.”

“Mine too,” Crux added into the sudden silence that followed that incredibly brave proclamation, “We should definitely rescue Libra if we can. It’s the right thing to do dear.”

“B-but…!” Lucy tried to protest utterly flabbergasted.

“It’s our choice, our free will,” Padfoot told her gently nudging her elbow in assurance, clearly throwing his lot in with the other two, “Besides it doesn’t matter if our keys are up for wager because we’re definitely going to win, so it doesn’t matter anyway!”

She wanted to argue, or worse, forbid them from risking it, but then Padfoot was right, it was their choice, and if she did that she wouldn’t be any better than the other Celestial Mages who treated them like tools without wills of their own. It wouldn’t be right, and she’d absolutely hate it if someone did it to her, so there was only one choice.

“Alright,” she agreed girding herself up, “Then the plan is this, track down Everlue, trick him into agreeing to wagering the key, because I doubt he’ll give it up otherwise, and win. We can do that.”

And they would, because she wouldn’t have it any other way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again big thank you to Hiniko for this chapter you guys I hope you enjoy it! Though please still consider this story on hiatus!


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Updated this and Tales of Tails today! 😊💖

When Lucy and her spirits emerged from the shadows with the start of a plan, the library was in complete and utter chaos. She only just managed to dodge a flying book that would’ve clocked her right in the head if not for her quick reflexes. A quick glance around showed that Natsu was still fighting the two mercenaries from the Southern Wolves, with Happy flying overhead occasionally swooping down and providing back-up by dropping books on their heads.

Libra currently had her back to her, but she was sure it wouldn’t remain that way for long. However, she didn’t want to just leave Natsu and Happy without an explanation even if she was well aware they could look after themselves.

“Natsu I’m going to find Duke Everlue,” she called, taking advantage of the brief moment of Libra’s inattention, as she mounted up on Padfoot.

“Okay,” her mission partner agreed without argument or complaint, endearing him to her a bit more, especially when he added, “Punch Evergreen in the face!”

“I will,” she promised fervently, meaning the words with all her heart. She was going to find a way to make Everlue pay for ever claiming to be a Celestial Mage, and for the poor way he was treating Libra.

She didn’t get a chance to say more than that though, as her shouting had, predictably, caught Libra’s attention, and Padfoot took off to avoid being caught by her Gravity Magic again, their group dashing out of the library and out into the hall, Padfoot’s nose in the air as he attempted to track down Everlue for her.

Cam was around her neck in his small Chameleon form again, acting as an extra pair of eyes and ears. They’d thought about having him make them invisible again, but they’d wanted to lure Libra away from Natsu, so it hadn’t really been an option, and Crux was sitting in front of her, his frail body carefully shielded by her own as he poured over the book in his hands.

“Why are we having him read that thing again?” Padfoot asked as they dashed around a corner, Libra right on their heels just as planned, only long experience keeping her on his back, and her grip on Crux barely keeping the top-heavy spirit from going flying, “And why now? He could’ve just taken it to the Celestial Realms and you could’ve called him back for it later. I’m not actually a horse you know and not meant for passengers!”

“Sorry Padfoot,” she apologized grimacing slightly, and praying Crux found what he needed quickly. The Cross Spirit was fairly light, but keeping him on the Canine’s back wasn’t easy, especially since he was fully engrossed in the book and not paying attention at all, “I need him to read the book though, and he’s a much faster reader than I am.”

“There’s a secret in that book I’m sure of it,” she explained, “Why else would our client be willing to pay two million jewel for it? I can’t in good conscience destroy it until I know what that secret is.”

“A secret you say?” the familiar voice nearly made her jump out of her skin, and she cursed as she realized there were more of the surveillance lacrima around, quietly wondering just how rich this Duke Everlue had to be in order to afford such opulence and where the heck all her previous life’s constant vigilance had gone to allow her to slip up again and not notice it.

“Change of plans Libra, bring me that book!” the Duke ordered over the intercom, his voice ringing through the hallways as Padfoot continued to run.

“T-That’s not good,” Cam murmured into her ear.

Lucy bit her lip in agreement, wishing she’d kept her mouth shut before asking, “Any luck Padfoot?”

“Not yet,” her canine friend grumbled unhappily, “It’s not easy to track a scent you’ve never smelled before while on the run and carting everyone around you know.”

“I know,” she assured him, gently patting on of his sides, “But I also know you can do it. You’re the best tracker I know.”

“I’m the only tracker you know,” Padfoot grumbled though his slightly wagging tail gave him away.

“How much longer do you need to finish up Crux?” she asked, not wanting to rush him, but well aware they were on a time crunch.

“Just a few more minutes dear,” he mumbled not taking his eyes from the book, flicking through the pages so rapidly they were almost a blur under his fingers, “I’m almost done.”

“Think you can handle that Padfoot?” she asked as he vaulted down a staircase, paws barely touching the ground as he created some distance between them and Libra who was hot on their tail, moving far faster than she thought would’ve been possible given her human form though she really ought to have known better by now than to judge a Celestial Spirit by their physical appearance.

“Are you kidding me?” Padfoot asked indignantly, “Of course I can just hold tight!”

She did as ordered, anchoring herself and Crux as best she could. Poor Cam squeaked in surprise and discomfort, but still managed to hold gamely on to her shoulders as he leapt off the second-floor balcony. It was a move that probably would’ve slowed any other pursuer, but given Libra’s abilities with gravity didn’t faze the other spirit in the slightest.

It was a rather ironic game of cat and mouse, considering the canine nature of her companion, but luckily true to his word it didn’t take Crux long to finish up his reading. Mindful of the ever present lacrima security system the Duke was using to track them, he whispered the secrets of the book into her ear, both Padfoot and Cam listening intently with their enhanced senses.

With each word her stomach dropped lower and lower into her belly. She’d known something was wrong with the book, her gut was almost never wrong, but to think such an innocent looking thing was hiding such insidious secrets was enough to make her feel absolutely sick.

On one hand she couldn’t believe what she was hearing, but on the other, she had a good enough feel for Everlue now to know it was true. The man was sick and twisted, clearly narcissistic and sadistic to boot, it was not a pretty combination and she was fairly sure he would’ve been called a psychopath in her previous life, a lot like Lucius Malfoy in a lot of ways, though nowhere near as cunning.

If she hadn’t been determined to take Libra away from him before, she certainly was now, and if he got a bit roughed up in the process, it was absolutely no skin off her back. He absolutely deserved it, and if she had her way she’d also be sending in an anonymous tip to the Rune Knights. 

They probably wouldn’t be able to do anything about it, her experience with law enforcement in her past life, and her training time with them in this life told her that their hands were tied a lot of times when it came to people like Everlue. However, they would at least make note of it, so that someday when he did something so big his peers couldn’t ignore it, and it was when not if, she knew men like him, this could be added to the charges leveled against him.

“Alright, thank you for telling me Crux,” she told her friend, managing to keep her voice level despite her body near shaking with the force of her fury, “Please return to the Celestial Realms now, take the book with you, and I’ll call you back when everything’s over.”

“As you wish princess,” the Southern Cross told her, giving her a solemn nod before disappearing in a puff of smoke, leaving her with Padfoot and Cam.

“Alright guys, let’s find Everlue, free Libra, and teach him a lesson he won’t soon forget,” she told the remaining too, earning solemn nods of agreement as Padfoot took off down the hall, nose to the ground, on the hunt once more.

♈️ ♉️ ♊️ ♋️ ♌️ ♍️ ♎️ ♏️ ♐️ ♑️ ♒️ ♓️

Cam watched his key holder’s face from his place around her neck, wishing he could see her expression better. He was pretty sure, the look on her face now was absolutely glorious, probably full of righteous fury, and ready to tear Everlue apart on behalf of the people he had wronged.

When he’d first come into her care, he’d honestly been more than a bit wary. He hadn’t been surprised in the least when she told him she’d found his key abandoned in a library she’d visited. He knew it had probably been some place no one was likely to find it as well, even if she’d never explicitly told him that.

After all his contract holder had threatened to abandon him that way more than once, because he’d never been strong enough to fight the way the man had wanted. No matter how hard he tried, not matter what tricks he’d used he’d never been strong enough, and when his summoner had gotten hurt it was almost always inevitably his fault. Therefore, it was no surprise to be abandoned, he was just honestly glad the man hadn’t chucked his key into the ocean, which had been his other favorite threat, where no one would’ve ever been able to find it unless the Celestial Spirit King intervened.

That was one of the other few things he could do as King of their realm. No key was allowed to be permanently destroyed and no key could be placed somewhere that no human could find it. However, time passed differently in the Celestial Spirit realms so there was every chance his key would’ve remained at the bottom of the ocean for years or even centuries before it was retrieved and placed somewhere a little more accessible.

The only upside to that was that after something like it, the spirit attached to the key in question could then choose where they wanted to have their key placed. It didn’t matter where on Earthland they wanted so long as they still had a small chance of being discovered it was allowed. Some like Canis Minor who had multiple keys went to places where they’d be quickly discovered, while others chose places the Summoners would really have to work for. It was how the Crystal keys managed to remain hidden for so long, though they at least didn’t need the Celestial Spirit King’s help to move themselves.

He wasn’t sure if his previous summoner had known that or not, but he had chosen a spot that was incredibly difficult for another to find him. He was honestly really lucky that anyone had found him at all, and even more lucky that it was Lucy.

She was honestly the polar opposite of his previous summoner, sweet, kind, and thoughtful. She always thanked him when he did things for her, and never demanded anything. There were no orders, only requests, and never any harsh words or complaints, only encouragement. It honestly felt like a dream at times and he kept waiting for the other shoe to drop, but it never did.

All her other spirits, even standoffish Aquarius, vicious Ophiuchus, and wise old Crux had nothing but good things to say about her, and Taurus, Canis Major, and Virgo would probably take the head off anyone who even thought about insulting her in their presence. However, the more time he spent with her the more he could see why.

Lucy loved them, truly loved them, not as tools or pets, but as members of her family. She wanted and gave nothing but the best for them, and in turn, it made him want to give nothing but the best for her. She made him feel brave, brave and wanted for what felt like the first time in a very, very long time, so much so that he wanted to share the feeling with others, which was why he’d volunteered to risk his key to free Libra.

It didn’t matter that she wore a veil over her face, he could read the look in her eyes clear as day. It was one he recognized from looking at his own face for so long. Despair, despair and resignation, and while he didn’t know Libra personally, having never really had an excuse to interact with her he did feel that no Spirit should be subjected to a life as terrible as the one she’d be forced to live with Everlue, which looked like it might be even worse than his with his previous contract holder.

“I’ve found the scent,” Canis Major, who insisted on being called Padfoot nowadays, told them eagerly, breaking into his thoughts, “I’m sure this is it! I doubt anyone else in this oversized gaudy monstrosity wears cologne with imported cinnamon tones straight out of Minstrel considering it costs over six million jewel an ounce.”

Cam found himself in immediate agreement with the Canine Spirit’s words, especially because “gaudy monstrosity” was just the perfect description for this place and the things he’d seen both while running down the halls and exploring with Lucy. It was very clear to him that Everlue had a thing for gold, no matter how tacky and wasteful it was to cover everything in it, which probably explained his fascination with gold keys.

And speaking of which it was becoming clear to him that Libra was getting tired to chasing them. She’d been holding back for a while, he could tell, clearly hoping they’d find some way to escape, but since they had for the most part, been running in circles that clearly hadn’t happened so she was forced to pursue in earnest and was quickly gaining on them.

Luckily it seemed they were fairly close to their destination, and Canis Major skidded to a halt at the feet of the gaudiest piece of décor yet, and enormous golden statue of Everlue himself, which had to be at least a hundred feet tall. As someone who liked to blend in Cam knew he probably shouldn’t be judging others for their sense of what looked good and what didn’t, but he felt he could honestly say that particular statue, no doubt meant to be imposing, was one of the ugliest things he’d ever laid eyes on.

“He’s here,” Padfoot told them with a frustrated growl, “Though where here I don’t know.”

“That’s fine,” Lucy assured him, clearly unconcerned, “So long as we know he can hear me.”

“Oy Duke Everglue!” she called her shout clearly surprising Libra who startled enough to skid to a halt.

“It’s Everlue! You stupid slut!” the man in question snarled, his voice echoing both from the lacrima around them and from inside the statue. The insult to Lucy, sweet wonderful Lucy made him bristle in indignation and fury, while Padfoot let out the fiercest growl he’d ever heard from the Canine constellation.

“Whatever Ever-loser,” his keyholder snapped back, a rather impressive sneer on her face, the name making his lips quirk involuntarily and Padfoot quietly snicker to himself, “I’m here to challenge you!”

“Challenge me?” Everlue demanded after he finished sputtering, clear incredulity in his voice.

“Yes, challenge you,” Lucy told him voice clear and gaze steady, “I want Libra’s key, and in return I’ll wager you Canis Major, Chameleon, and Crux.”

Her challenge was met with raucous laughter from the man hiding in the statue, though out of the corner of his eye he could see that Libra was watching intently, clear interest on her face.

“Are you stupid? Those aren’t gold keys, and nowhere near enough, even if I was inclined to wager with you, which why should I when I could just take them from you,” the arrogant man pointed out after he calmed down enough to speak.

“You’re wrong to undervalue them,” Lucy informed him, her voice like ice and actually rather terrifying, “Even outside of how much they mean to me, Canis Major uses Shadow Magic, Chameleon is invisibility magic, but most importantly for you Crux has that book you want so badly, he’s taken it to the Celestial Spirit Realm and you won’t ever be able to get it back unless you have his key.”

“Do you think I’m stupid?” Everlue demanded angrily, “Libra can enter the Celestial Spirit Realm and take that book back for me at any time!”

“I do think you’re stupid,” Lucy agreed mildly, earning an infuriated snarl from the man, that she ignored as she continued, “Because no she can’t. Crux is the guardian of the Celestial Spirit King’s Library, the only ones allowed to take books out are him and the King himself. Libra cannot enter, nor can she force him to remove it for her.”

“Then I’ll just have to take the key from you by force Libra!” Everlue ordered, and she immediately moved to comply, but halted in her tracks when Lucy held her hand up to stop her.

“And that just proves you’re no Celestial Mage Ever-loser,” Lucy taunted a clearly superior smirk on her face, “Because all Celestial Mages know you can’t form a proper contract with keys that are stolen. Even if you manage to take Crux’s key from me, because you didn’t follow the law of the Spirit World, he doesn’t have to bring the book to you, not when it would mean taking it from the King’s own library. No. In order to get the book back you have to agree to my challenge and win the fight fair and square.”

He really and truly admired Lucy for that. Unlike his old summoners, she had a special kind of cunning to her, an ability with strategy and ideas that were completely out of the box, but that worked very well. When she’d first explained her plan to them on the way to find Duke Everlue he’d been in awe. She’d only just learned about the way the law in the Celestial Spirit Realms worked and here she was already twisting it to her advantage. It was honestly a little awe inspiring.

“You’re lying!” Everlue howled furiously, the volume of it, amplified by the lacrima, making him cringe slightly.

“I’m not,” Lucy told him calmly a triumphant smile on her lips, “You can even ask Libra if you like.”

“Libra!” he immediately complied, making his fellow Spirit jerk in surprise at being addressed so suddenly, “Tell me the truth!”

“She… isn’t lying master,” Libra told him, clear wonder in her voice as she stared at Lucy with no small amount of awe in her eyes, “I would not be able to retrieve the book for you, nor would Crux hand it over to you unless his key was gained in the proper manner.”

“Fine,” Everlue spat, clearly infuriated, “Fine, fine, fine! You know I was going to be nice to you, stupid little girl, maybe even make you one of my mistresses or something since you at least have a pretty face and nice golden hair, but now? Now I’m going to make you _suffer!_ I Duke Atticus Everlue accept your challenge! If you win I’ll give you Libra, and when I win I get Crux and the other two as well! Now Libra crush them!”

Libra immediately lunged for them, having no choice but to obey her master, though Canis Major was able to nimbly dodge out of the way, quick on his paws despite his rather monstrous size.

“Well I got him to accept the challenge at least,” Lucy told them wryly, as Padfoot was forced to dodge again, “I’d hoped to piss him off enough to make him come out and fight himself, but that was apparently too optimistic of me. I should’ve known he’d be too much of a coward to do so.”

“What do we do now?” Padfoot demanded, “I thought we didn’t want to hurt Libra or reveal any of the others?”

“Now, now I need a favor, if you’re up for it Cam,” Lucy told him, surprising him. He’d honestly thought his part was just to act as another pair of eyes and ears, he wasn’t a fighter, so he wasn’t useful in situations like this. There was no way he could take on Libra, he’d only end up crushed, and while it wouldn’t kill him it would most definitely hurt. Still he trusted Lucy, and he wanted to help her.

“J-Just tell me what to do Lucy-hime,” he told her, his voice trembling slightly from nerves even despite his determination to do what was necessary. He really wasn’t looking forward to the pain.

“I need you to slip away, go invisible if you can, and find Duke Everlue. I’m almost certain he’s in that statue somehow, but I don’t know where. We need him to admit surrender in order to properly claim Libra’s key, that and he no doubt has it on his person, which means we need to find him. Can you do it?” she asked earnestly.

“I can!” he affirmed immediately guilt riddling his stomach. He should’ve known Lucy wouldn’t send him out to fight. She knew he couldn’t, and he never should’ve doubted her. Still his guilt helped firm up his resolve. He definitely wouldn’t fail her!

It wasn’t easy getting down off Canis Major’s back, especially considering how high he was off the ground, and he hit the ground rather painfully, and louder than he would’ve liked. Luckily Padfoot’s growls and Duke Everlue’s own shouted instructions were loud enough to cover the sound, and he quickly scampered away, making his way toward the statue that held the target.

He wasn’t sure what exactly he was looking for, so he changed back into his more human form, figuring whatever it was it was more likely to be at human eye level. Everlue didn’t strike him as the athletic sort, so however he got into the statue had to be fairly easy to access. He started at the base, working his way slowly around the large feet running the sensitive pads of his fingers over the gold surface looking for any sort of crack or crevice that might indicate a hidden door.

However, there was nothing, or at least nothing he could find. Frustrated and unsure where to go from there he happened to glance up and spotted the second story landing, which sparked an idea. The statue was a full two stories tall, and was tucked into the curve created by two large sweeping staircases that led up on to the second floor. Which meant there was every possibility access was up there.

It took him a bit to reach one of the staircases mostly because he had to skirt around the edges of the fight between Libra, Lucy and Padfoot. Strangely enough whether due to the restrictions on Libra’s contract, Padfoot’s own strength as one of the stronger Silver keys, or Lucy’s ability to strategize the two of them were actually holding their own very well, better than anyone would’ve guessed given the supposed difference in levels of power between silver and gold keys.

He let out a breath of relief once he reached the second floor, glad his invisibility magic had held and that he’d remained undetected, and his eyes quickly found a ramp that led right up to the back to the statue’s head, neatly hidden from sight if one was looking at the statue from down below.

Eagerly he bounded forward, only to frown at what he found. The was a subtle but clear outline of the door to enter into the statue, but there was no knob, or anything he could see that might help him get it open. Carefully he inspected it with his fingertips, attempting to pry it open to no avail.

Frustrated and out of breath from his exertions trying to get the stubborn thing to open, he leaned against one of the ornamental posts that decorated the ramp, his hand pressed against the small ball on top, and he nearly fell over as it gave way. He panicked briefly thinking he’d somehow broken it, only to find it was on a hinge, and that it lifted away to reveal a small lever.

His heart nearly thudded its way out of his chest in anticipation as he carefully pulled it, and he let out a squeak of joy as the outline of the door pushed inward and then sank into the ground. He’d done it!

♈️ ♉️ ♊️ ♋️ ♌️ ♍️ ♎️ ♏️ ♐️ ♑️ ♒️ ♓️

“Lucy-hime!” the call immediately had her head jerking up, and she spotted Cam waving at her from the top of the stairs. The minute she made eye contact he elaborated, “I’ve got it!”

He was just in time. Their little game of cat and mouse with Libra had dragged on for quite a bit at this point, and she could tell Padfoot was beginning to tire out, mostly because he had to haul her around on his back, while also dodging Libra who was surprisingly fast. They’d only just barely escaped her gravity fields a couple of times, and she had the strangest feeling they’d only managed that because Libra, despite firm orders from Everlue, was hesitant to really hit them. Between that and the fact that she no doubt had a limited contract with Everlue they’d managed to hold on, but only just.

She waved to acknowledge her other spirit, who immediately went invisible again, much to her relief, especially since his call had attracted the attention of both Everlue and Libra who’d turned for a brief moment to look up at him.

“Got it?” Everlue’s voice echoed over the lacrima, confused and angry, “Got what? What are you doing sneaking around you little rat!”

“None of your business,” Lucy snapped immediately, trying to divert his attention away from the vulnerable Cam and back on to her and Padfoot, “And he’s a Chameleon not a rat Ever-looser, or are you too stupid to know the difference?”

“Right, that’s it,” his voice was surprisingly calm, which immediately made her wary.

“My patience is at an end. I at first thought it would be worth it to keep you alive to make you regret your words and actions here today,” Everlue told her grandiosely, “But I’ve decided you’re not even worth that much. You’ve taken too much of my time and attention already. Libra, it’s time to use that move.”

“That move?” Lucy repeated baffled, as Libra froze, clear reluctance written all over her face as she hesitated, glancing warily between Lucy and the statue of Duke Everlue.

“That’s right,” Everlue told her, vicious delight in his voice, “That move, which pulls in everything in its path and crushes it into oblivion, even light can’t escape it’s force. Which makes this the end for you. Libra! Now!”

The Spirit turned back toward them, and Lucy could see clear regret and apology written all over the Balance Spirit’s face as she slowly extended her hands, her fingers moving like a puppeteer’s moving a marionette making the trays at the end dance and weave. Around them the world was beginning to distort, and Lucy could feel something beginning to drag both her and Padfoot forward toward Libra, Padfoot’s feet sliding against the marbled floor, unable to find a grip despite attempting to scrabble backwards.

She honestly might’ve panicked then, but Everlue’s words had sparked an idea, one that had her lying flat against Padfoot’s back and whispering into the tricky spirit’s ear. He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, clearly surprised by it, but in the end, he gave her a nod of agreement, willing to try anything to get out of their predicament.

It worked. One minute they were caught in Libra’s gravitational pull, and the next they were falling back and away into the shadows, Padfoot immediately using their cover to race up the stairs to where Cam was waiting. He dropped her off there with the Chameleon Spirit who wasted no time climbing up on to her shoulders, and turning her invisible.

The canine spirit then charged back down the stairs, now well aware of his advantage, while she and Cam hurried to the opening the Chameleon Spirit had discovered. Just as they’d suspected the entrance led to a small set of stairs, which opened up into the head. 

Unfortunately, she didn’t have time to stop and stare in wonder the way she wanted to, at the display screens for what looked like hundreds of Lacrima, along with the one the Duke was clearly using to speak out of. Instead she headed right for the ugly little man, who was both shorter and wider than any of the grandiose art around the mansion had suggested.

“Where did she go?! Libra you stupid Spirit, how did you let her escape find he-urk!” she cut his shouting off, wrapping her leather whip tightly around his throat. His hands immediately scrabbled for the whip, trying to pull it away, but she didn’t let him get any leverage.

“Surrender Everlue,” she warned tightening the whip against his throat, “You lost.”

“H-How?” he wheezed out, and while she couldn’t see his face directly she could see if reflected and distorted in the lacrima he’d been watching in. Even with the distortion, he incredulity on his face and the hatred in his gaze was unmistakable.

“Surrender,” she repeated firmly, not bothering to answer the question. Unlike some she wasn’t actually stupid enough to tell her enemy about her tactics.

“I won’t…!” he protested, a snarl on his face, rage twisting his features to make him even more ugly than he already was.

“Then die,” she told him dispassionately, jerking the whip against his throat to emphasize her point and making him wheeze in surprise and protest. It was a bluff of course, not because she wasn’t willing to kill him. She’d killed before, and was of the firm opinion that scum like Everlue deserved to die. However, she’d double and triple checked with Crux and death wasn’t actually an acceptable method of surrender in challenges for keys.

Any sort of maiming was, but death wasn’t and taking the keys off a corpse was apparently considered stealing, the same way taking them from him without his consent would’ve been. It was all a bit gladiatorial and far more vicious than she’d expected of the Celestial Spirit World, but there was nothing she could do about that. Luckily Everlue didn’t actually know that, and she was more than willing to take advantage of his ignorance in this situation.

“You wouldn’t!” he managed to wheeze out.

“I would,” she corrected amiably, allowing the honesty to bleed through her voice, “It’s no less than scum like you deserve really. Besides I find this both fitting and ironic considering how you said you obtained Libra’s key in the first place. The summoner’s life for the key right?”

Everlue struggled in her hold, kicking and squirming, but he was an out of shape man in his forties or fifties and she was young, fit, and surprisingly strong given her stature. He seemed to realize the futility of the struggle as he suddenly went limp in her hold.

“Do you surrender?” she asked pointedly, “Answer quickly now Everlue, before I make the decision for you. If you do state your full name and that you give up Libra’s contract.”

“I Duke Atticus Everlue surrender my contract with Libra” he gritted out, each word grudging and furious though the effect of his fury was somewhat lost as he was gasping for breath between words. Still despite its grudging nature, it was more than enough for her, and she grinned sharing triumphant looks with Cam.

Unfortunately, the moment of inattention cost her, and the wily old man suddenly lurched forward putting all his weight on the whip, startling her enough that her grip loosened enough for him to slip free. Magic flared, and in less than a second, he disappeared, drilling a hole through the statue and escaping.

She would’ve been more than happy to let him go. However, despite the fact that he’d surrendered and Libra’s key was by the laws of the Celestial Spirit World legally hers, she didn’t actually have it in her possession. It was in fact, more than likely still on Everlue’s person, which meant she’d need to go after him.

Once more she cursed herself for her lack of Constant Vigilance. This new life of hers had really made her soft, and she quietly vowed to herself that sometime soon she was going to do some proper training to bring her awareness back up to par. Admittedly she never would’ve guessed the man was trained in magic outside the little bit he’d demonstrated by opening Libra’s gate, because most nobles weren’t but that was no excuse really.

In the meantime, though she did the only thing she could do and jumped down the hole to follow him. With Cam’s help she didn’t have to worry about the drop, clinging easily to the walls, even as she was quietly grateful she wasn’t afraid of the dark or small spaces. Luckily it didn’t go too far, and emerged on the ground floor where Padfoot had been keeping Libra occupied.

“What are you waiting for?!” Everlue was shouting as she and Cam quietly emerged from the tunnel, his face purple with rage, “Get us out of here you stupid thing!”

A quick glance around showed that Padfoot, while a little dirty and worn looking, was perfectly fine. Libra on the other hand was looking more than a bit disheveled, her hair falling out of the coiled buns she wore, and one of her trays dragging on the floor, the strings that attached it to her fingers clearly broken in some places.

“She doesn’t have to listen to you anymore,” Lucy intervened for Libra’s sake as the poor Spirit looked rather conflicted, “You surrendered, so legally the key belongs to me, and your contract to Libra is null and void.”

“I didn’t mean it!” Everlue howled in frustrated fury, “It was a bluff!”

“It doesn’t matter,” Lucy told him ruthlessly, “You said the words, so it counts. Now hand over the key.”

“You mean this?” Everlue asked, pulling the key in question from his front breast pocket, a twisted smile on his face that made her extremely wary, “No I don’t think I will.”

“It’s no use to you,” she tried, attempting to edge forward concerned about what he might try to do, after all cornered animals tended to be both violent and unpredictable and she had no reason to think Everlue wouldn’t be the same.

“If I can’t have it, no one can,” he told her spitefully, taking the key between his hands, clearly attempting to break it.

It wouldn’t have worked. Gold was admittedly a soft metal, but Celestial Spirit keys weren’t made of ordinary gold. The only way to actually break a key was with the consent of the Spirit in question, because breaking a key summoned the Celestial Spirit King which made it a very grave matter. You also had to be contracted to said Spirit in order for it to work, which he most certainly wasn’t.

It might’ve been amusing to watch him strain and struggle to destroy it, but Lucy wasn’t in the mood. She was absolutely done dealing with the sick, disgusting man in front of her, and just wanted the whole stressful ordeal to be over with.

Long practice had the whip in her hands flicking out hard in less than a second, lashing out hard over his hands and forcing him to drop the key with a cry of pain. She immediately darted forward and followed it up with a hard kick between the legs in punishment for the disgusting perversions she’d been forced to see while looking for the correct book, and when he started to collapse forward she swung forward hard, delivering the punch to the face she’d promised Natsu and breaking Everlue’s nose in the process.

It was extremely satisfying and more than enough to knock the man out cold. He collapsed to the floor, and she eyed his still form for a moment, contemplating whether being knocked out was really enough punishment for a man whose crimes were likely both horrible and beyond count, but in the end, she decided not to sink to his level, instead turning to look at her spirits and Libra who was watching her with cautious eyes.

“Lucy!” the familiar voice had her glancing up and back and she found Happy flying through the air toward her with Natsu on his heels. The two of them skidded to a halt between her and Virgo, Natsu’s fists lit up menacingly as he eyed the wary Libra and Happy explained, “We’ve come to save you Lucy!”

“Wait! There’s no need for that see?” she ordered firmly as Natsu took a menacing step forward, making them both pause and turn to look at her in surprise. She gestured at Everlue’s unconscious form on the ground, “We already beat Everlue, and I have Libra’s key right here.”

“Who is Libra?” Natsu asked puzzled, his head tilted to the side a bit like a confused dog.

“She’s Libra,” Lucy explained amused and exasperated as she gestured toward the spirit in question, “She’s a Celestial Spirit, one of the Zodiac keys, and she had to listen to Everlue before because he had her key, but since we defeated both of them her key belongs to me now.”

“You defeated both of them Lucy?” Happy asked clearly surprised and impressed, leaving her unsure whether to be offended that he’d underestimated her, of flattered by the literal stars in his eyes.”

“It was mostly Padfoot that defeated Libra,” she explained, “And I had Cam’s help to defeat Everlue.”

“Cam the ninja!” Natsu exclaimed eagerly glancing all around the room clearly searching for the spirit in question, “Where is he?”

“Hiding,” she told him amused as she realized belatedly that Cam on her shoulders had gone invisible, clearly too shy to face the enthusiastic fire wizard just yet, “Like a good ninja should.”

Natsu nodded solemnly at that, clearly willing to let it go, though she could see his eyes linger briefly on her shoulder, and remembered that he could likely smell or hear her lizard spirit. Still it was surprisingly sweet and inciteful of him not to press the matter.

“Padfoot defeated Libra?” Happy asked clearly baffled, earning an annoyed look from her companion, “But Libra was really strong! I saw her use really strong magic in the library! How did he do it?” 

Lucy wasn’t going to answer at first, but she could see Libra watching intently from the corner of her eye, clearly intrigued by the answer as well, and she figured that revealing how they’d defeated her would be a good first step to building trust with her newest spirit.

“We were actually losing at first,” she explained with a shrug, earning an annoyed look from Padfoot who clearly hadn’t wanted her to relay that particular detail, “But then Everlue said something that reminded me of something important.”

“What did he say?” Natsu asked eagerly from where he’d plopped himself cross legged on the ground, the perfect audience.

“He said not even light escapes Libra,” Lucy explained, then elaborated, “And he’s right gravity, and strong Gravity Magic can bend light, but you know what it can’t bend?”

“What, what?” Happy demanded eagerly, chewing on a fish shaped cookie he’d pulled from his pack, “Shadow. Darkness is the opposite of light, and is in fact the absence of light and can’t actually be moved or effected by gravity.”

Libra looked startled but thoughtful, and Happy looked contemplative, but Natsu just looked lost so she simplified, “Basically Padfoot’s Shadow Magic was perfect to use against Libra since it meant she could touch him, but he could touch her, which meant he could keep her occupied and not hurt her too much while Cam and I dealt with Everlue.”

“I see,” Natsu told her nodding seriously, his eyes shut and his chin held contemplatively between his thumb and forefinger, the gesture so overdone she was fairly sure he in fact did _not_ see.

“So, does that mean Libra is on our side now?” he asked deftly changing the subject.

“It does, or at least she’s no longer against us,” Lucy explained glancing at the Spirit in question, “We have to make a contract first before she’d technically be considered an ally.”

“Ooh! Contract!” Happy exclaimed excited, both he and Natsu leveling puppy eyes at her as they asked, “Can we watch?”

“Uh sure?” Lucy told him hesitantly, not quite sure why they were so eager, but not bothered by their presence either, “But only if Libra is okay with it.”

They immediately turned their gazes on Libra, who looked startled to be suddenly included in the conversation, but she did nod rather hesitantly, giving Lucy one last look before disappearing to the spirit world.

“Wait where did she go?” Natsu asked baffled, “I thought you two were making a contract?”

“We are,” Lucy told him patiently, amused by the pouting he and Happy were doing, “But before she was here because of Everlue, in order to make a contract with her I need to summon her under my own power first, mostly just to prove I have enough power to do so.”

“So, you’re going to summon her now Lucy?” Happy asked as the two resumed their seats so they could stare at her intently again.

“Yep,” she agreed with a nod, trying not to feel unnerved by their intensity. She’d had an audience for summoning before, but it had always been close friends or family who were watching her with love and support in mind, not staring at her like a fascinating alien species about to perform an intriguing trick.

Luckily, she’d done this enough times that she didn’t fumble a bit as she brought the key up and out, completing the correct gesture, and pouring in her magic, letting it take what it needed. The familiar sound of a doorbell rung through the room, and Libra reappeared in a shower of light.

“Hello again Libra,” Lucy told her with a welcoming smile, “I haven’t introduced myself yet, but I’m Lucy, Lucy Heartfilia.”

“Heartfilia?” the Balance spirit repeated, her voice low and almost musical with a trace of an accent that she couldn’t quite place, “Of the Heartfilia line?”

“That’s right,” she agreed with a nod of acknowledgment, “It’s nice to officially meet you.”

“And to you Lucy of the Heartfilia,” Libra returned with a dip of her head, “Long has it been since I have served under you line, this one is pleased to find herself in service to it once again.”

“Thank you,” Lucy told her genuinely, a little startled by the formality and the slightly odd way of speaking, but pleased that the Spirit didn’t seem unhappy that her key was now in Lucy’s possession, “Would you like to make a contract with me?”

The Spirit looked surprised to be asked, rather than ordered, but didn’t deign to comment, instead quietly listing off the times she would and wouldn’t be available to call. Apparently, she was pretty flexible, and didn’t mind combat, but preferred to keep things in balance. Thus, if Lucy called her for combat once, she would also like to be called in a more relaxed atmosphere once to balance it out, though she had no restrictions on being called into the more relaxed atmosphere as she didn’t particularly crave combat the way Ophiuchus did.

Lucy meticulously noted down all of Libra’s contract conditions in the small notebook she kept in her requip space for just that purpose, ensuring she didn’t miss anything. It didn’t take too long, Libra wasn’t picky thank goodness.

“I look forward to working with you Lucy of the Heartfilia,” Libra told her with one last dip of her head before disappearing one more time.

“Wait that’s it?” Natsu asked from where he and Happy had remained surprisingly quiet through the entire exchange.

“That’s it,” Lucy agreed amused, “It’s really not all that interesting a process, even if what gets said is really important to both parties. What were you expecting anyway?”

“There weren’t any vows, or blood oaths or anything,” Natsu complained with a huff as he pulled himself to his feet, a pout on his face.

“Boring,” Happy agreed with a sad shake of his head.

“Not boring,” she scolded lightly, “Even if they seem a little strange, contracts are important promises to my precious friends, and I have to pay close attention to them, otherwise I might lose them.”

“If you say so Lucy,” Natsu agreed, still clearly a little dubious but willing to go along with her for now.

“I do say so,” she told him amused, but unwilling to continue to try to convince him for now anyway, “But more importantly, now that, that’s done we should go back and report to the client.”

“You’re right! Though I’m not sure we actually destroyed the book,” Natsu admitted a bit sheepishly, “I mean I did crisp the guy you said had it, but maybe we should go check just to be sure.”

“Don’t worry,” she assured him realizing belatedly that she’d forgotten to inform Natsu that she had the book in question, “Cam took care of it.”

“Really?!” Natsu asked clearly delighted and perking right back up, “Cam is so awesome!”

“He really is,” Lucy agreed with a smile, amused once more at the embarrassed gratitude wafting off her Chameleon Spirit.

Luckily, they didn’t face any more trouble on their way back to Kaby Melon’s home, especially since they were able to just waltz right out of the front gate of Duke Everlue’s mansion this time instead of having to try to sneak in. She might’ve been worried that they’d been discovered, but she very much doubted that Everlue would actually report them, especially since it would mean opening his home up to an investigation by the Rune Knights, or even the Magic Council since he’d been using magic. There was no doubt in her mind that if they did Everlue would be going straight to jail, so she wasn’t too concerned about it.

Once again Kaby and his wife were the ones to welcome them into their home, and she was struck again by the lack of opulence, especially after having recently been in Duke Everlue’s home and the sheer contrast between the two. She actually had a sneaking suspicion about how this was going to go, but supposed it didn’t really matter in the end.

“Did you destroy the book?” he asked eagerly as he clasped hands with his wife, his face alight with hope.

“Not yet,” Lucy interrupted before Natsu could eagerly voice his agreement, making the pink haired man turn astonished and slightly betrayed eyes on her, “I wanted to bring it to you first, here just let me summon one of my Spirits.”

She didn’t wait for them to agree, simply pulled out Crux’s key and feeding it enough magic to let him materialize book in hand.

“I see you’ve been successful Lucy-hime,” the Southern Cross spirit noted jovially, the book held clearly in his hands.

“I have,” she agreed with a smile, “And there’s someone I’d like to introduce to you. Crux this is Kaby Melon, Kemu Zaleon’s son, Kaby Melon this is Crux, a Celestial Spirit and dear friend of mine.”

Crux nodded his head politely, a gesture Kaby Melon returned though he looked thoroughly baffled, as he asked, “How did you know?”

“That you’re his son?” Lucy asked for clarification, earning a dumbfounded nod in return, so explained, “Because it says so in the book.”

“The book?” Kaby repeated utterly baffled.

“You’ve never read it have you,” Lucy stated more than asked, feeling entirely sympathetic to the poor man.

“No, all I know is I have to destroy it,” Kaby explained a bit shakily, “It’s an awful book, a complete disgrace!”

“Wait what?!” Natsu demanded finally piping up. He’d clearly been caught off guard by the revelation that the author of the book was the father of the client, but something had snapped him out of it, and his face was a mask of anger, “Just because it’s poorly written you’d destroy your father’s work?”

“It’s not like that Natsu,” Lucy told him catching him by the arm and pushing him back down into his seat, though she suspected she was only able to because he let her, his eyes practically burning into hers demanding an explanation.

It wasn’t a surprise. Mirajane had mentioned Natsu was a little sensitive about father issues given what happened with Igneel, and how Natsu had been left all alone. The kind barmaid had warned her that it could be a bit of a hot button for the Dragon Slayer Wizard.

“It’s a matter of honor. On the surface the book really is a terribly written piece, a smear on his father’s name, because Kemu Zaleon really prided himself on his work as a writer,” she explained, “Having it destroyed would ensure no one knew about it.”

“That’s right,” Kaby explained clear grief on his face and in his voice, which had Natsu immediately backing down and watching the older man with curious, cautious eyes.

“My father was an amazing writer, and took great pride in his work. When Duke Everlue commissioned him to write a story with him as the main character I warned my father not to take it. He’d never taken a commission before, writing only what his muse inspired him to do,” he continued, his hand coming up to squeeze his wife’s fingers where she’d rested her hand on his shoulder in comfort.

“I told him not to do it, that it wasn’t worth it, and I thought he agreed,” Kaby went on tiredly, “But then one day he left, leaving only a note saying that he’d accepted the commission and would return when it was done. We didn’t hear from him again for three whole years.”

“When he finally came back he was a changed man. He insisted the work he’d created for Everlue Daybreak was a piece of rubbish, and that after writing it he could no longer call himself an author. In shame he cut off his writing hand and swore to never write again,” Lucy cringed at that, horrified, especially with the truth she knew.

On one hand she understood pride, but to go that far… She might’ve put it down to that foolish man’s pride thing again, if she hadn’t known how very much Kemu Zaleon had suffered while working on his commission for the disgusting creature in the mansion on the hill and what the book truly contained. Honestly, she suspected his self-mutilation probably had more to do with the trauma he suffered than pride, and privately wished she’d kicked the pig before leaving, or at least done more than unman him and break his nose. He certainly would’ve deserved it.

“I was furious,” Kaby explained bitterly, “He threw away his pride as a writer, his ability to turn things around, and his family all at once. He died shortly after that, before we could make amends and for a long time I hated him, really and truly hated him.”

“But the years went on, and anger slowly faded into regret,” he admitted sorrowfully, “I regretted turning my back on him, on not spending his last days with him, on all the things I missed. I could no longer make things up to my father in life, but I hoped that if I burned the book, destroyed all evidence of his shame, that at the very least I could do that much for him, to ensure his name remained untainted in death. That’s why I have to see Daybreak destroyed no matter what it takes!”

The clear guilt and anguish had softened Natsu to him, and he no longer looked nearly angry at all, his face awash with sympathy for the man. It was clear Kaby’s story had touched his heart, and she privately thought that he very much related to the other man. She wouldn’t be surprised at all if Natsu harbored a bit of resentment for Igneel for vanishing on him out of the blue even if he did still desperately want to find him again, and spoke with clear love in his voice whenever he talked about his dragon parent.

She more than understood that it was possible to love someone dearly and fiercely resent them at the same time. It was how she’d felt about Sirius for the longest time until they’d made their peace in the afterlife. After all, he was her godfather, and while Wormtail did have a part in his incarceration, he put taking revenge on the traitor ahead of assuming his responsibilities as a godparent.

Yes, technically she’d been safe with Hagrid when he’d handed her over to him, but a part of her had spent a lot of time bitterly wondering if they’d both have been saved a lot of suffering if he’d just gone with her and Hagrid instead of hunting down the traitor. And that wasn’t even touching on what had happened to him during her fifth year, his death, which she’d harbored both incredible guilt and immense resentment for, for a long, long time. Thus, she more than understood some of Natsu’s and even some of Kaby Melon’s feelings when it came to the male parental figures in their lives.

“From your story I can see why you’d want to destroy it,” she told their client, choosing her words carefully, “On the surface it is truly a terrible book, an utter disaster, and not something that could or should ever be attributed to Kemu Zaleon.”

“However, there’s far more to it than what’s on the surface. Crux here is an expert on books,” she explained gesturing to her Spirit who nodded in acknowledgment, “And he was able to see that there was a secret hidden within the pages.”

“A secret?” Natsu, Happy, and their client voiced in stereo, all of the looking intrigued.

“That’s right,” Crux explained taking the reins of the explanation when she nodded for him to do so, “From this book and from the words of Everlue himself we know that Kemu Zaleon did not write this book willingly.”

“What?” Kaby demanded looking both anxious and anticipatory, “But he told me the money was good!”

“Maybe it was,” Crux told him sympathetically, “Or maybe he simply didn’t want his son to know, but I am a firm believer in the truth, and I would give it to you if you would hear it Kaby Melon, though I warn you it might be painful for you to know.”

“I-I want to know,” the older man admitted without a second’s hesitation, “Even if it hurts, I want to know the truth about my father, he deserves to have his story told.”

“Very well,” Crux agreed though she was fairly sure she could see the faintest glint of respect in his eyes for their client, “Then you should know that Kemu Zaleon, or rather Zekua Melon as you would’ve known him, turned down Duke Everlue’s commission. However, Everlue, infuriated by his refusal told him that if he wouldn’t write the book for him, then he would have the entire Melon family’s citizenship papers revoked.”

“But that would’ve had us deported back to Desierto,” Kaby Melon claimed horrified. Not that she could blame him for that. 

Desierto was a harsh country to live in from what she’d heard anyway. The climate there was extraordinarily harsh, the land almost all desert outside a few scattered oasis. Her studies had said the sun there would burn your skin in minutes and the wind was hot, dry and would pull all the moisture from your body and leave you nothing but dry brittle bones if you weren’t careful.

The people there were also said to be just as harsh as the land they lived in, nomadic tribes of warriors that followed what desert dwelling migrating herds of wildlife there were. There were rumors of ritual sacrifice and scalping that came out of travelers who dared to traverse the harsh lands, and even more about the terrible sandstorms and people who became lost never to be found again. 

She knew not all rumors could be believed of course, but she did know for a fact that it was a poor country and the only reason it had never been conquered was because no one particularly desired to live there outside the natives who’d been born and raised with the harsh desert sun and sands, and there were very few resources that would’ve made it worth it to try.

Sentencing the family back to Desierto, especially when they would’ve probably had to cut all ties in order to come to Fiore would’ve been a death sentence for them, especially since with Duke Everlue pulling the strings getting back into Fiore would’ve been all but impossible. The desert tribes weren’t known for their forgiveness and were a very tight knit community, from what she understood when you left, you never went back, and those that tried were killed.

“Indeed,” Crux acknowledged sadly, returning her focus to the present and to her client who looked positively devastated by the news.

“And for the three years he was gone Kemu Zaleon toiled away, locked up, alone and forbidden from leaving or contacting the outside world, to create this,” Crux told him gently tapping the cover of the book. 

Kaby Melon let out a wounded noise as he realized that his father hadn’t abandoned their family after all, and had in fact given everything he could to protect them, even at great cost to himself. Crux hadn’t been lying when he said the truth would be painful, but even now she could see that her Spirit, while telling the truth was also being incredibly kind.

He wasn’t telling the man how his father had literally been in solitary confinement all that time, a punishment meant only for the worst of criminals due to what it could do to the mind. He also didn’t mention that if you read between the lines it was very likely Kemu Zaleon had been tortured, something that she didn’t doubt having met Everlue herself. 

Even thinking about it still made her incredibly angry, and a small part of her wished she could’ve killed him. She’d killed death eaters before and he was no better than them. However, that hadn’t been part of their mission, and there would’ve likely been terrible legal repercussions, both for her and likely for Natsu, Happy and Fairy Tail as well, something she couldn’t do to them, no matter how much she wished she could enact vengeance on the man who’d caused so much suffering over something so incredibly petty.

“However, despite all that I truly believe your father didn’t stop writing because of the shame of this book,” Crux admitted with a gentle smile, “In fact I believe it was actually the opposite. He believed this book to be his absolute masterwork.”

“Masterwork?” their client repeated a bit tearful and utterly baffled by the turn things had taken, “But didn’t you say it was awful?”

“Only on the surface,” Crux told him with a wide smile, “For all that Everlue no doubt thought he’d gotten his own way, at his heart Kemu Zaleon was a wizard, and he certainly had the last laugh.”

“Here,” the spirit told him offering the book, “It just needs the right touch, and I think yours is the one that will let us see the true nature of Kemu Zaleon’s last and greatest book.”

Shakily the man held a hand out to accept it, taking it in both hands. It didn’t take long for them to see what Crux had meant, the book lighting up and glowing golden, as it slowly rose out of his trembling hands, falling open, the pages ruffling as though in a brisk wind, magic swirling around the room as chains of golden letters floated into the air, circling the book, rearranging themselves into new words.

It was honestly a breathtaking bit of magic, and she could almost feel the warmth, the clear love of a father for his son in it as it swept through the room finally settling back into the book, whose front cover had changed, Daybreak rearranging to spell Dear Kaby.

“A final note to his son,” Crux explained quietly as the book floated back down to their client who accepted it into his arms, hugging it to his chest tears spilling down his cheeks, “I hope you will accept it, with the intention it was meant, and that it eases some of your pain.”

With his final words of wisdom said the spirit gave her one last nod, and let himself fade back into the Spirit World.

“Do you still want the book destroyed?” Lucy asked gently as the man sobbed his wife gently massaging his shoulders, her face tearful as well.

“No, no of course not,” their client admitted tearfully clutching it protectively to his chest.

“Well then I suppose you don’t need to pay us then,” Natsu admitted, speaking up for the first time, a wide smile on his lips.

“What?” Kaby asked clearly shocked.

“The mission was to destroy the book,” Natsu explained easily, standing from his seat and heading toward the door, “And we can no longer do that, we didn’t complete the mission, so we don’t get paid easy as that.”

“Makes sense to me,” Lucy admitted with a shrug, standing up from her own seat and brushing herself off so she could follow. Padfoot was still neatly tucked away in her shadow, the same place he’d been since they’d exited Everlue’s mansion and Cam was still invisible on her shoulders, so she didn’t have to worry about them.

“Come on Happy, let’s head home,” Natsu told the cat gesturing for him to follow as well, “And you should probably head home as well Kaby Melon.”

He’d managed to surprise both her and their now former client as they made their way out the door. Yes, she’d come to the conclusion that the house wasn’t theirs and that they were seriously out of place, but she hadn’t expected Natsu to pick up on it.

“How did you know?” she asked curiously as they exited the house together.

“Know what?” he asked baffled.

“That the house didn’t belong to them,” she clarified as Happy moved to join them, casually soaring overhead.

“They smelled different from the house,” Natsu told her as if that explained everything. Which to him it probably did. The more time she spent with him the more certain she was that Natsu was a ball of animal instinct given human form.

Still it wasn’t all bad, and she thought she might even like him. For all his brashness he was truly a good person at heart, as his words to Kaby Melon had shown.

“All right back to Magnolia,” he exclaimed with a stretch and a sigh, a wide grin on his face.

“Try not to vomit on the way home,” Happy told him cheerfully from overhead, earning a deep groan from the pink haired teen, and a laugh from Lucy herself, as she thought that she realized that at the very least, she enjoyed being around them, so she’d probably stick around Magnolia for just a while longer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First and most important a huge thanks to the amazing TeaDrinkingFlowers without whom this chapter wouldn't have happened! You're amazing and I hope you had an awesome birthday!!! 🎁 🎈🎊 🎉 🥳
> 
> **Note:** This story is still on hiatus and if you want to know why you can find out [here](https://evenescenttranquility.tumblr.com/post/634344308607205376/life-update)
> 
> I was also asked to include a list of keys Lucy has so you know and can keep track of who is who. I'll also add little details for you including what kind of magic they can do if it's been revealed!
> 
> **Crystal Keys**
> 
> 1\. Cetus (Sea Monster)
> 
> **Gold Keys**
> 
> 1\. Virgo (The Maiden) Earth Magic
> 
> 2\. Cancer (The Crab) 
> 
> 3\. Aquarius (The Water Bearer) Water Magic
> 
> 4\. Taurus (The Bull) 
> 
> 5\. Ophiuchus (The Serpent) 
> 
> 6\. Libra (The Balance/Scales) Gravity Magic
> 
> **Silver Keys**
> 
> 1\. Canis Major/Padfoot (The Great Dog) Shadow Magic
> 
> 2\. Pyxis (The Compass) Directional Magic
> 
> 3\. Crux (The Southern Cross) Archive Magic
> 
> 4\. Horologium (The Clock)
> 
> 5\. Chameleon/Cam (The Chameleon) Invisibility Magic
> 
> 6\. Lyra (The Lyre)
> 
> I hope that helps!


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Going completely off the rails of canon! You've been warned!

“So, I heard you went on your first ever job,” Cana told her as she plopped into the seat next to Lucy gesturing for Mirajane to bring her a drink.

“If you could call it that,” Lucy acknowledged with a slight smile, absently sipping at the tea Mira had brought her earlier, “I’m not sure it really counted since we didn’t actually technically complete it.”

“Oh?” Cana asked clearly curious, leaning forward on the counter, and cradling the drink Mirajane had brought her, “Sounds like you might’ve had an interesting time. Tell me everything!”

Lucy did as she asked, recounting the trip there, the strange meeting with the client, breaking in, the disgusting Duke, Libra, the confrontation, and the sad story of what really happened to Kemu Zalaeon. It took her a while to recount the full thing, but Mira kept her glass full, clearly listening just as intently as Cana was, who was hanging on to her every word.

When she finished Cana let out a quiet whistle and told her, “Sounds like it was a doozy of a job.”

“It was,” Lucy admitted wryly, “One with a lot of unexpected twists.”

“Some jobs are like that,” Mirajane told her consolingly, “We do our best to screen them, but some still slip through the cracks occasionally.”

“I’m just mad you chose Natsu of all people to do your first job with,” Cana teased as she took a big gulp of her drink, “I mean if you wanted to go on one all you had to do was ask! I would’ve taken you with me!”

“Natsu is the one who asked me,” Lucy told her dryly, “And didn’t take no for an answer. Besides I don’t think your usual mission partner would appreciate my presence very much.”

“Loke is being a little weird about you,” Cana admitted with a slight frown, “And I did try to ask him about it, but he refused to answer, just assured me it was nothing against you personally. My best guess is he probably had a bad run in with a Celestial Spirit Mage at one point and is really wary now.”

“He probably hit on one and got what he rightly deserved,” Mirajane pointed out with a sigh, “Not all women appreciate his flirting.”

Cana raised her glass in acknowledgement to that before, slamming it down on the bar and announcing, “Well if asking is all it takes why don’t you do a job with me now? Loke is taking it easy for the next couple weeks anyway, and we don’t always work together, so I know he won’t mind if I run a mission with you.”

“Hey no way!” Natsu protested, bounding over from where he’d been sitting at one of the tables, Happy gliding along beside him, “I was going to go on a job with Lucy, she’s my partner!”

“I thought Happy was your partner?” Cana pointed out with a wicked grin, clearly trying to provoke the duo.

“He is!” Natsu insisted fervently, “But Lucy is our other partner right Happy?”

“That’s right!” the blue cat agreed cheerfully, “Besides aren’t you supposed to partner with Loke?”

“Loke’s on vacation,” Cana insisted clearly a little bit annoyed, “And we don’t always partner up anyway, not like the two of you.”

Lucy watched them bicker back and forth for several long minutes, unsure whether she should try to intervene or not. On one hand it was about her, but on the other hand both of them were being a little rude not asking for her thoughts on the matter, and she was thoroughly entertained watching them, so she took a rather vicious satisfaction in not interfering. A feeling Padfoot shared if the quiet snickering in her ear was any indication.

“There’s only one way to settle this,” Natsu told him lighting up his fists with magic.

“Fine by me!” Cana countered reaching for her belt purse where she kept her cards.

Lucy was so shocked by their sudden decision to actually fight it out with magic over something so completely and utterly ridiculous that she wasn’t quite quick enough to intervene, but someone else was.

“Yes,” Mirajane’s voice cut through their bickering like a knife, and made the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. The tone she used was still as sweet as ever, but something about it was incredibly threatening her normally kind smile full of knives as she informed the bickering duo, “There is only one way to solve this, and that’s not to fight and potentially destroy my lovely bar for the fifth time this week, but to ask Lucy what she wants to do. You’re being very rude after all, excluding her from the decision-making process. Maybe she doesn’t want to go on another job at all.”

“You do Lucy, right?” Happy asked her earnestly from where he’d been perched on the counter, also watching the fight and munching on some fish, “You do want to go on another job right? They’re lots of fun I promise!”

“I guess I wouldn’t mind going again,” she admitted reluctantly as the bickering duo also turned their eyes on to her, clearly looking for an answer.

“Yes!” Natsu cheered brightly, “Then Lucy you can help me…!”

He was cut off by Cana digging her knuckles into his scalp an annoyed frown on her face as she asked her voice full of fond exasperation, “Didn’t you listen to a word Mira said?”

“What do you think Lucy? Would you like to come with me on a job this time, take a break from the knuckle head?” Cana asked her with a playful grin.

“I’d like that I think,” Lucy told her with a smile, though she wasn’t completely immune to the disappointed twin groans of both Natsu and Happy who were both giving her sad puppy dog eyes.

“Don’t worry,” she assured them with a smile, “I’m not exactly leaving Magnolia any time soon, we can go on another job together later.”

“Do you promise?” Natsu asked earnestly.

“Sure, I promise,” she told him, not seeing the harm in it.

“Alright!” Natsu cheered agreeably, clearly satisfied with her promise, he wandered off again with Happy the two of them earnestly discussing what kind of job they should take.

“Well then,” Lucy huffed amused before turning to Cana who just rolled her eyes at the antics of the younger duo.

“What do you have in mind for this job?” she prompted curious, especially since Cana had been so insistent that they go on one together.

“I’m glad you asked!” Cana told her with an almost predatory smile before whipping out a flyer that she immediately pressed into her hands, “Check this out!”

Lucy ‘s eyebrows went higher and higher with every word she read before turning to Cana who was looking at her with eager eyes and asking dryly, “You want us to be entertainment at a festival?”

“Not just any festival!” Cana protested immediately, her voice hushed as her eyes darted around the bar clearly trying to ensure no one could overhear her, “The festival of lights in Crocus! This job is going to be huge! The payout is already pretty good, but we also get to keep whatever tips we make. Do you know what I had to go through to get my hands on this job before anyone else could? It’s going to be like being paid to go on vacation!”

Lucy eyed the woman she was beginning to consider her friend in a mixture of amused wariness, unsure whether she should be concerned or not about how incredibly intense she was about taking this job, especially since it almost looked like she had literal fire in her eyes as she stared her down.

She knew about the Festival of Lights of course, one of the biggest holidays in all of Fiore it was the equivalent of Yule or Christmas from her last life. It was characterized by the small strings of lacrima that people strung up all over the place in different colors, much like the twinkle lights she remembered the Dursleys always making her string up around their home every year before she went to Hogwarts. 

Jude had always thrown a huge party, and had insisted the family attend several other celebratory get-togethers thrown by his important business partners. It had always been a bit of a stressful and unhappy time for her, not anything to be celebrated, especially after her mother died. Layla had been the only things that had made those parties bearable, her presence and the small traditions they had just the two of them that had all stopped when she died.

Lucy hadn’t celebrated it since, not even when she’d been on her own last year. She’d been too caught up, at the time, in staying away from Jude, which meant staying away from anyplace with a decent population that might get her reported or found. It hadn’t exactly been a priority to keep track of the days either, so it had slipped by without notice or remark. Now though she was free from Jude, and she’d always heard the festival in Crocus was particularly lively and fun.

Still she was a little surprised that Cana had asked her of all people to come with her, especially if the job was as in demand as the other woman suggested it was, an opinion she quickly voiced to the other woman.

“Of course, I’m asking you,” Cana told her, as if she was the one being ridiculous, “We’re friends, aren’t we? And besides if not you than who? Gray?”

Her words warmed her right through, and Lucy couldn’t help the smile that curled her lips, besides considering Gray was in the middle of stripping out of his clothes again, something she’d learned was apparently an unconscious habit for the man she couldn’t blame her. Especially since she knew Mirajane always stayed in Magnolia and Cana didn’t seem to have any others she was particularly close to in the guild.

“Alright,” Lucy agreed with a laugh, “I’ll go.”

“Let’s do this!” Cana cheered eagerly holding her mug out clearly waiting for cheers, which Lucy gave her, giggling along with her, caught up in her excitement as she clinked their glasses together and Cana proclaimed, “To our first job together!”

♈️ ♉️ ♊️ ♋️ ♌️ ♍️ ♎️ ♏️ ♐️ ♑️ ♒️ ♓️

Given that she wasn’t travelling with Natsu this time, she’d fully expected the train ride from Magnolia to Crocus to be motion sickness free, which in all fairness it technically was. Unfortunately, it wasn’t nausea or whining free, as Cana had, had just a bit too much to drink in celebration of their doing a job together and was royally hungover.

Luckily unlike Natsu Cana was more than capable of falling asleep despite her nausea so her whining didn’t last much longer than it took Lucy to convince her to drink a big bottle of water and force a hangover potion down her throat before she passed out on the plush bench seat of the train.

She didn’t think Cana had even really noticed that she hadn’t needed to pay for tickets, one of the benefits of owning more than half of the company who owned the rail lines. They’d even gotten a first-class car all to themselves, which she rather appreciated. It meant they could relax and stretch out, and that Padfoot didn’t need to spend the whole time hiding in her shadow, instead sprawling across the seat with her, his enormous head in her lap as he allowed her to pet his head and play with his soft ears. It hadn’t taken long for her faithful friend to also doze off, leaving her alone with her thoughts as she peered out the window, and went over the details from the job once more.

They were scheduled to work every day of the festival, which would last for seven days. However, the two of them had agreed the night before to trade shifts. Thus, she’d be working the 24th, 26th, 28th, and the 30th while Can would work the 25th, 27th, 29th, and the 31st and the two of them would work together on the 1st which they’d both agreed was more than fair.

The hours weren’t too bad, but would be fairly late at night, because as the name might suggest, the Festival of Lights activities were best held at night in order to see things more easily. According to their flier they’d be working from a half an hour before sundown about 4 pm until midnight, so an eight-hour shift.

The only problem of course was what she was going to do in order to entertain the festival goers. Cana had her plan in the bag, after all the card mage was incredibly good at tarot readings, and with a little sprinkle of magic added in to make the cards float and dance through the air, and she was more than set, and no doubt going to be an incredible hit.

Lucy on the other hand wasn’t nearly as sure about what she’d like to do, or what she could do. Yes, her spirits were interesting, but for the most part she wanted to keep their abilities under wraps. She still didn’t feel comfortable letting people know the extent of her abilities, especially since she knew people like Everlue would definitely want to try to take her keys and thus her family members from her if they could.

However, she wasn’t sure what she could do that people would find entertaining. For all her experiences in her past life, entertaining had never really been one of them, unless you counted quidditch, which she definitely didn’t even if the stage fright was probably the exact same. She knew she’d have to use magic somehow, that was the whole reason they’d been hired by the festival organizers in the first place, the only question was how?

Watching the scenery go by out the window she pondered for a good long while, her hands continuing to absently pet Padfoot, going over what she knew about the Festival of Lights in the first place that might help inspire something. In the end her thoughts drifted toward her mother, and it was there she struck gold.

Before she’d died it had been tradition every year for her and Layla to sit down, and for Layla to tell her the origin story of the Festival of Lights on the first night of the week-long celebration that lasted from December 24th to the 1st of the new year. It was a story she had memorized, and considering it involved the stars, one that seemed extremely fitting for a Celestial Mage to tell.

Excited by her idea she quickly went over just what she would need, and was pleased to find that between her spirits and herself she’d have everything she needed in order to perform. It was just going to be a matter of practice and setting up whatever area they were given.

The rest of the train ride passed rather peacefully, and Cana woke up in good spirits around noon. The two of them had a fun afternoon together, as she told her idea to a delighted Cana, and the two of them swapped stories about what they’d done in previous years during the Festival of Lights.

Apparently Fairy Tail had their own traditions, and would have their own, smaller version of the festival for Magnolia, which Cana claimed was fun in its own right, but nowhere near as enjoyable as going to Crocus was going to be. Though according to her this was mostly because they weren’t going to have to baby sit some of the more impulsive members of the guild as they inevitably got drunk or did something monumentally stupid.

That she could believe whole heartedly, and she and Cana had several bets between them on who would cause the most trouble and when Natsu would first set something on fire accidentally, when not if, because both of them knew it was going to happen eventually, it was honestly inevitable given the nature of the salmon haired fire-mage.

In turn she told the awestruck Cana about some of the parties she’d been forced to go to over the years, and about the little traditions she’d treasured with her mother. It turned out the two of them had that in common, as Cana’s mother had died when she was young as well, and her father wasn’t in the picture really either. 

Cana was actually a bit cagey when it came to the subject of her father, but given her own secrets and her own terrible relationship with hers Lucy didn’t push, and Cana returned the favor even though she knew the brunette had to have noticed that she never mentioned what her last name was. Still even if they were both still hiding a few things from one another she felt closer to her. It was actually the closest she’d felt to a human her own age in this new lifetime, which she had to admit, if only to herself, really was rather nice.

Their discussion lasted them all the way to Crocus, and once they were off the train they got directions and easily made their way to the hotel they’d been provided. Even though the festival didn’t actually start until the day after tomorrow the place was already packed, the hotels all completely full, and people crowding the streets, clearly scoping the place out.

She was just glad their rooms were provided by their client, who had gotten them really nice accommodations. It was just as Cana had said, the job, at least so far, seemed to be incredibly cushy. Admittedly the two of them had to share a single room, but they at least had separate beds, and the room and the bathroom were positively luxurious.

The two of them didn’t take more than half an hour to settle in before checking in with their client, who gave them a map of how booths were going to be laid out for the festival and where they were going to be located. They weren’t the only mages who’d been hired for entertainment, all the major guilds in Fiore had been invited to participate and were scattered throughout the streets where the majority of the festival would be held.

They were in charge of their own decorations for their booth, but had been given a decent budget that would help them pay for any materials they might need, along with access to the festival’s supply of lacrima lights, which they were required to string around their booth, though how they chose to do that was completely up to them.

She and Cana agreed they’d start working on that tomorrow once the sun was up and they could get a better look at the space they’d be using. In the mean time they grabbed a nice dinner with the vouchers their client had provided for meals, and exchanged some of their thoughts on what might or might not be possible. Cana also pointed out a handful of wizards that she knew, if only by sight and not personally, along with identifying the guild marks of the major guilds if only so she knew who might be friendly and help her and who she should probably avoid.

A few mages even joined them for a little bit, and Lucy was rather amused to find herself getting hit on for the first time in a good long while. She’d been flirted with here or there during her travels, but since she’d mostly avoided being among civilization it hadn’t been all that often. Admittedly a couple of guys had attempted to flirt with her at Fairy Tail too, but Mirajane had always scared them off with a rather fearsome glare, insisting the ones who’d tried weren’t nearly good enough for her.

She could more than look out for herself of course, but she had appreciated the bar maid’s kindness, even if it had meant she hadn’t really flirted with anyone outside a playful and completely not serious Bickslow, who she unfortunately hadn’t seen for a while. Apparently, he and the Thunder God Tribe were rather in demand when it came to jobs, and the only time he’d come back she’d managed to miss him as she’d been on her own job with Natsu. It was unfortunate, but she wasn’t too worried. She was sure she’d see him again relatively soon, though when that would be she wasn’t entirely sure.

Still it had been fun to brush off her flirting skills with him, and even more fun to watch Cana wrap any man who came to their table around her finger easily. She kept them buying their drinks for several hours without Lucy having to do nearly anything other than sit and watch the clear master at work.

It was fairly late by the time the two of them left to head for their room, much to the disappointment of the mages who’d been gathered around their table none of them were invited to accompany them back. Cana despite drinking an absolutely insane amount of alcohol for a normal human being, was still only tipsy, her tolerance apparently insanely high.

Lucy was a little tipsy herself, and giggly. She’d been talked into her own few drinks by the other woman, since they weren’t the ones paying for it, and Padfoot had been right there to watch over them in case they got into trouble. She honestly would’ve offered the spirit some drinks of his own, but she’d learned a while back from Aquarius that Celestial Spirits couldn’t get drunk on normal human alcohol so there was really no point unless they enjoyed the taste. Padfoot had assured her before that he most definitely didn’t and had contented himself with a water glass that she’d made sure to keep full for him as he watched over them from the shadows.

All in all, it had been an incredibly good night for her, the kind that left her feeling languid and content, both from the alcohol and from the wonderful company. It didn’t take long for both her and Cana to fall asleep.

They woke at a decent hour the next day, and had a quick breakfast at the inn before going to hunt down their space. It was in a decent area, on a corner that would probably be fairly high traffic, and right in between a couple of food booths that would make keeping themselves fed during their shifts nice and easy.

The stopped to chat with their neighbors for a bit, getting to know them, and familiarizing themselves with the people nearby before going into their space. It didn’t take them long to decide that they wanted to put up some kind of tent. The weather was supposed to be fairly good for the next few days, but you really never knew, and the festival was going to go on rain or shine, so they definitely wanted a roof over their heads.

Luckily there were plenty of tents for rent by the people hosting the Festival, and they found one that was just the right size. With the help of a little color changing magic they had it a nice deep purple color, one that would help it blend in, in the dark, which was just what they wanted, because it would help their lacrima string lights stand out all the more.

Lucy had proposed stringing the lights up like constellations, and Cana was happy to go along with it, claiming the heavens was a good theme for a fortune telling booth too. It took them a while, the work intricate, and a bit fiddly, but with some help from Virgo, and a rather bemused Libra, who helped float them so they wouldn’t need any ladders, it didn’t take too long.

They also set up a nice table and chairs for Cana who would use them for props every once in a while, and Lucy pulled out a bigger lacrima about the size of a small watermelon to act as a nice big moon inside the tent, that could be dimmed at will to give them a little more light if they needed it. It was something she’d bought for her travels that she’d almost forgotten about until Virgo had reminded her, though she was glad the spirit had reminded her, even if it did get her a few odd looks from Cana, clearly wondering how she could afford something that cost quite a hefty amount of jewel.

After they were set up the two of them went to explore the surrounding area, with Padfoot, her ever diligent guardian, staying behind to ensure no one tried to take anything or mess with their tent. The area the festival was going to be held in was absolutely massive and actually circled the outer wall of the palace that the royal family lived in. On their walk Cana managed to introduce her to a few more people, including a few people from Lamia Scale, Blue Pegasus, and Quatro Cerberus.

They lingered longest with the Blue Pegasus guild, mostly because their leader Bob had come along for the job himself and was apparently a dear friend of Makarov. Luckily, she didn’t actually know the guild master all that well, which left most of the questions for Cana, and left Lucy free to flirt and talk with the extremely handsome guild members that Master Bob had brought along with him.

Cana had pouted at her, for hogging their attention and explained as they walked away that Blue Pegasus was actually a bit different in that they functioned both as a Mage Guild and as a bit of a Host Club of all things, which she wasn’t sure whether to find amusing or appalling. Apparently, they were quite popular though, so she couldn’t really say anything, it worked for them, and no one was in it against their will. It seemed sex would sell no matter what world she lived in.

After their talk with Blue Pegasus they grabbed a bite to eat and she and Cana went their separate ways for a while. She had to rehearse with her spirits for a bit if she wanted everything to go right while she was working, and she also wanted to write down several things to ensure she wouldn’t forget.

The spirits she’d asked to help her out were all incredibly eager, excited by her plan and for the fact that they got to participate in it, and some of them even threw out their own ideas that she happily incorporated into her plan.

Cana swung by in time for dinner, and the two of them had another nice evening before relaxing in the bath together. It was honestly a bit strange, getting used to the bathing habits here in Fiore, where the genders were admittedly separate, but group bathing was acceptable and even preferred by a lot of people as a social activity. It wasn’t actually something she’d done a whole lot of, as the nobles she’d rubbed elbows with most of her young life had been snotty enough to think that solo bathing was the privilege of their class, and one that should be exercised by anyone with taste.

Luckily, she wasn’t all that body shy, so she didn’t have any issue bathing with Cana, as the other woman filled her in on some of the shopping she’d done while Lucy rehearsed for her performance tomorrow. The bath was even nice enough she briefly contemplated summoning Aquarius, though in the end she decided not to, figuring the mermaid might be on one of her myriad of dates with her boyfriend, and well aware of how grumpy she’d get if she got interrupted.

Once again, she fell into bed feeling fairly content, and woke at a decent time the next day. Cana actually technically had the day off, but the slightly older woman had promised to stick around for the first little bit just in case she needed anything. Frankly she was grateful for her support, as the closer it came to the time she’d need to be ready the more nervous she got.

She could at least admit that despite everything she was certainly dressed for the part she would play tonight. Virgo had gone all out creating a dress for her, one that had a bodice stitched with silver thread and thousands of glittering crystal stars on a deep blue silk, that fell into a soft A-line skirt composed of layers of tulle, each with a galaxy of stars, and several stitched constellations.

Cancer had helped with her hair and make-up, giving her a mysterious look in deep blues, purples, blacks and silvers, and putting several silk ribbons and silver pins in her blonde hair. When Cana caught sight of her outfit she’d given an appreciative whistle and had assured her she looked absolutely fabulous.

Together with her friend it didn’t take more than a few minutes to set up the tent in a configuration that would make her performance easier for her, the final touch a sign that they’d agreed to post out front, that told which days they’d be working and what activity to expect on what day so no one got confused.

The minute the clock struck time, people began to flood into the area, which had been barred off by the Rune Knights to give the vendors time to set up. The sound reaching her ears, a cacophony of loud shouts, cheerful chatter, and excited babbling was enough to make butterflies feel like they were going to explode out of her belly. Only the comforting presence of Padfoot and Cana, and the reminder that this was a job she’d agreed to and literally nothing compared to the many life-threatening situations she’d faced over the years kept her holding her ground and not running away as fast as she could.

Sucking in a deep breath she allowed herself to summon the Spirits she’d need, all of whom looked incredibly eager, their presence helping assuage some of her nerves, and settling her down as they took their places.

She nodded at Lyra, her playful, sweet friend, who immediately began to strum on her harp. The spirit, whose key had been a gift from her fellow spirits to Lucy to help ease her nightmares, was an incredibly gifted musician on her own, without any sort of magic to add to it, the kind that would make a person stop to listen in awe. However, that wasn’t all she was.

Through her music Lyra had the ability to enhance or induce certain emotions in crowds of people. It wasn’t strong enough to completely override what they were feeling, especially if they were feeling something extremely strongly, but it was enough to suggest, which was just what she needed.

Honestly Lyra alone probably would’ve been more than enough to fulfill the job, but Lucy hadn’t felt right about making her spirit do all the work. That and she’d wanted to do something to remember her mother, and could think of no better way than this.

Just as they’d planned Lyra’s playing quickly drew in a large crowd who all stopped to watch, several of them stepping up to the edge of the small elevated platform they’d created to help keep her separated from the crowd a bit, so they didn’t come too close. Once the crowd was a decent size Lyra’s playing slowly faded into mere background noise and she stepped forward, appearing as if out of nowhere thanks to Cam, who was riding invisibly on her shoulders, earning surprised gasps from the crowd.

“Once long ago,” she began, her voice amplified by the small lacrima Virgo had carefully sewn into the collar of her dress, “back at the very beginning of times, the world was very bright. There was no such thing as darkness, for the world had two suns, one that shone throughout the time we now call day, and one that shone throughout the night.”

“It was a pleasant, peaceful time,” she continued, using the same cadence her mother had once used on her, as Libra used her gravity magic to move two large lit lacrima to emphasize her point, making the balls seem to float and revolve around her midair, “There was no fear, for what was there to be afraid of when all was light and good?”

“However, despite the light, that shone on every corner of the land, darkness slowly began to grow in the hearts of men,” she continued, knowing that behind her Padfoot was using the shadows to shape them into forms, a much more advanced form of shadow puppets than humans would ever be able to manage, “They coveted the light, and several of them formed together in a band to try to take it all for themselves.”

“In turn another group rose up in order to stop them, and so the first dark guild, and the first mages guild were born,” she told her audience as Lyra continued to play softly in the background.

“Long wars were waged over the two great lights, and while the first was protected, the other was taken and in the fight to recover it, it was struck again and again by magics both light and dark, and unable to withstand the barrage it shattered into pieces,” she narrated flicking her fingers to signal Libra who allowed one ball to drop. It appeared to shatter into thousands of pieces, earning an astonished gasp from the crowd, though what actually happened was that Cam caught it and turned it invisible while at the same time releasing a scattering of shards on the ground.

“It was then that the people of the land knew true fear, because while the first light continued to bring hope and comfort during what eventually became the day, all that remained at what would become the night was pure and utter darkness,” the word was a cue, one that Padfoot took easily, covering everything in shadow and leaving everyone in the crowd unable to see anything for the briefest of moments before tiny flickering clue lacrima came on, just enough to let people see and not panic, but not enough to truly stave off the darkness.

“It was a terrifying time, as dark and terrible creatures rose from the shadows, taking advantage of the darkness that covered the land, preying on its people, and terrorizing everyone they could, feeding off their pain, their despair and their fear,” she explained grimly.

“The people cowered in their homes, locking the doors, and prayed the terrors of the night would leave them and their families alone, to no avail, waiting every moment for the gentle light of the light that had become the sun, to touch the land once more and chase away the terrifying darkness.”

“It might’ve continued this way if not for one brave man, who stepped forward and braved the darkness,” she told her audience, “He had studied the pieces of the shattered light that had once ensured there was no night, and found that they could be made to hold light again, though not as bright as the original light, and theorized that if he could just gather all the scattered pieces together again, he could restore things to how they once were.”

“He set out on his quest with loyal companions at his side, and together they fought to reclaim all the pieces of the orb of light,” she narrated as Libra slowly began to pick up the little lacrima pieces that Cam had scattered around carefully lighting them as she went and letting them fly around over the heads of the audience in a beautiful display of control.

“They gathered all that they could, but he found to his despair, that some of the pieces were simply too small to fit back together again, leaving the once bright orb, full of splinters, cracks and craters, making its surface rough, and its light uneven. However, there was nothing he could do, and he nearly gave into despair afraid that his quest had been for naught.”

“Then a beautiful woman stepped forth, one who had helped him piece what he could back together, and reminded him that some light was better than none at all. The people didn’t need to have light on the land all the time, because there was beauty that could be found in darkness too, instead what they needed was simply hope, a small ray of light, to split the darkness and remind them that no matter how dark it was that light would come again.”

As she spoke Libra had been assembling the ball of shards behind her creating a rough looking globe as she let the small shards dance about the world becoming brighter and brighter, as Lucy fed more magic into the lacrima to let them give off more light.

“The man, moved by the woman’s words, agreed, and with the help of his faithful guild he took his recreated sphere of light into the sky and hung it there again, its pale glow becoming our moon, and the small shards he carefully scattered among the sky, small pinpricks of light that became our stars, and the world rejoiced, for in the darkness they had light and hope once more.”

“However, to his dismay the man found that in its incomplete form the moon couldn’t hold its proper shape, and over time began to crumble away. It needed constant repair and maintenance, and could not be left, lest the light and hope of the people go out again. And so, the brave man, the beautiful woman and his loyal guild chose to remain among the sky, to ensure the moon wouldn’t crumble, repairing it in an endless cycle of waxing and waning, and keeping it safe from those who might try to plunge the world into darkness once more.”

“Thus, the Celestial Spirit King was born, along with his queen, with his faithful guild the caretakers of the stars, the constellations, and every year, from the 24th of December until the beginning of the new year, we honor their sacrifice and celebrate their victory over the dark, with light and hope, and our Festival of Lights!”

With a pulse of magic, and the cue to Padfoot she lit all the lacrima on stage and in the tent, making them sparkle and glow as Lyra’s music crested to a crescendo, and Libra, together with Virgo and Cam helped scatter glowing dust through the air to vast applause from the audience as the lights came back on.

Lucy let out a breath of relief at having finished her tale, smiling from ear to ear, and curtseying to her audience, giving acknowledgment to all her Spirits who’d helped her. Cana was beaming, practically bouncing, as she gave her a clear thumbs up of approval.

Lyra continued to gently play as people surged forward to talk with her and the Spirits who’d agreed to chat, several of them leaving hefty donations in the box she and Cana had set up for just that. She answered what questions she could, and happily interacted with anyone who approached, very used to catering to people thanks to long experience at Jude’s parties, and most of these people didn’t have near the ego.

Several children also approached, which was the high light of the moment for her, eager to ask her all sorts of things about Celestial Spirits and their magic along with the Celestial Spirit King. Educating people about her magic, and what it truly meant to be a Celestial Spirit Mage was a joy for her, and made her feel if Layla were watching, that she’d be proud.

After a good half hour, she stepped back and summoned Crux for the next part of the show. The Southern Cross Constellation knew innumerable stories to tell about the stars, and the two of them had agreed to trade off back and forth where Crux would be summoned and unsummoned each time so she could show how her magic worked to her eager audience.

Their plan worked a treat, and she told several stories about the stars with the help from her Spirits, and the night was a smashing success, much to her relief, though by the time she’d told her last story for the night her voice was a bit sore, and she was glad that she would have the day off the next night to rest her throat a bit.

Cana had been over the moon, clearly proud of her for how well she’d done, and telling her all about the things she should try to see on her night off the next night, the two of them staying up late together soaking in the bath and just talking about everything that had happened that night.

Lucy fell into bed feeling completely and utterly content, noting that of the two jobs she’d gone on so far, this one was far more pleasant than the one she’d been on with Natsu, and she was glad she’d agreed to come.

The second night of the festival, saw Cana dressed up in traditional fortune-teller robes, in deep purple and gold, with a cowl that hid most of her face from view, and had a little bit of magic on it, that would ensure anyone who tried to peer under the hood saw only a black void and Cana’s eyes, which she claimed was to add to the mystery of it all.

Just as Cana had done for her, she stuck around for a bit to help the older woman get set up and comfortable, promising to stop back in a couple of times to check on her and bring food, since she wouldn’t have breaks the way Lucy had when Crux was covering for her. Once she was settled though she quickly shooed her off with orders to go and enjoy herself.

Padfoot and Cam both came with her, Padfoot because he was always with her and Cam because he’d expressed interest in seeing the festival with his own eyes. It was an opportunity she’d offered to all her Spirits, but none of them outside the Chameleon and Crux had really been interested and Crux said he’d seen more than enough the day before during his breaks from storytelling.

Walking through the festival reminded her a lot of walking through Diagon Alley the very first time. She wasn’t sure where to look, everywhere she turned there was something new to see, all of it utterly captivating and wrapped up in sparkling lacrima. There were also a myriad of scents in the air, from the traditional festival foods like cotton candy and popcorn in all sorts of flavors and colors, to things like fried moon pies, and star candy which were apparently staples of the Festival of Lights. It was hard to know where to begin, but she decided to just go wherever caught her eye or her nose as it were.

There were also lots of vendors selling all kinds of interesting things, clothing merchants selling star embroidered clothing in all shades and colors, and more lacrima sellers than she’d ever seen in one place. There were also a lot of people selling magical trinkets and odds and ends that did interesting or silly things, from normal color changing magic and wind reader glasses, to things that reminded her a lot of some of the prank items the Weasley twins had come up with in her previous life. 

She ended up picking up several things, including magical itching powder, darkness powder, flash, stink, and chili bombs, much to Padfoot’s delight. She knew she was going to have to keep an eye on him, to make sure he didn’t terrorize Happy, his favorite victim, too much, but it was worth it to see him so happy.

She also picked up a nice dark scarf for Cam, who she’d noticed touching it, running his fingers over the protective material, woven from special magically treated fibers that made it both durable and warm. She had the sneaking suspicion the Chameleon spirit had wanted it because he’d been inspired by Natsu and wanted to look more like a ninja, but didn’t say anything, not wanting to discourage him and finding it rather cute.

The three of them also stopped to watch people play several games in the booths that were set up, everything from scooping goldfish to knocking over bottles along with all kinds of different races and prizes that could be won. She never participated though, well aware even before Padfoot whispered in her ear, that they were all rigged to make winning nearly impossible. Still it was fun to watch, and she spent a good few enjoyable hours doing just that.

Eventually however she got a bit tired of walking around and eventually settled on to a bench to people watch with Cam and Padfoot occasionally adding their own commentary as they all munched on the treats they’d bought.

It was an interesting experience, mostly because it was very clear there were people attending from all over the world wearing all kinds of interesting and different styles that were a study in contrast. There was everything from the completely covered light earth toned clothing of Desierto, to the fancy embellished high fashion of Minstrel, to the light breezy skin bearing styles of Bosco.

It was all incredibly interesting, and made her wonder once again what it would be like to travel outside of Fiore and see more of what the world had to offer. She knew some places probably wouldn’t ever be open to her, Pergrande for instance with its Patriarchy and disgusting tradition of viewing women as nothing more than breeding machines, but other places like Midi, Stella, and Bosco all sounded incredibly interesting.

She was particularly interested in Bosco, because she’d heard so many things about how utterly scandalous their behavior was during her time stuck in the Heartfilia Konzern. They were apparently very open about sex and very free with their bodies, which had been utterly unfathomable to the noble class of Fiore, all of whom put a disgusting amount of worth on things like virginity and purity in women.

It was a double standard she’d always despised, that men were to be congratulated for managing to have sex with multiple partners and women were to be repudiated for it, which was part of what had made Bosco so intriguing to her. It was also probably why her eyes lingered for maybe just a bit too long on one of the men she saw clothed in traditional fare from Bosco.

In her defense, her eyes weren’t the only ones that were lingering on the handsome Boscan male, whose handsome face with its sculpted cheekbones, tanned skin and blue eyes would’ve been more than enough to turn heads, even without the open shirt he wore, leaving a nicely sculpted chest and abdomen on display, the hard muscle only emphasized by the large black tattoo that covered the whole of his side that was shaped like an eagle.

In her studies she’d heard that certain mage clans in Bosco were characterized by tattoos like the one he had on display. It helped identify them, and was part of their heritage and culture. Sensitive to magic as she was, this close she could also tell that it had a magic all its own, which was both strange and intriguing.

However, despite her eyes not being the only ones to linger on the handsome man, she also appeared to be the only one who got caught, or perhaps the only one who got caught who didn’t blush and look away. She was a little embarrassed to be ogling him so blatantly, but in her defense his tattoos were rather fascinating, and she wasn’t the type of person to shy away when she got caught.

He also didn’t look put off or discomfited by her eyes on him, and instead looked wholly amused and a bit intrigued himself. He actually kept his eyes on her as he quietly murmured something to the man who’d accompanied him, and slowly began to make his way through the crowd toward her. In her shadow she felt Padfoot bristle a bit, and Cam was a bit stiff on her shoulder, but she wasn’t worried. He didn’t seem hostile and there was very little he could do to her in the middle of a crowd as large as this one, even if he was.

“Good evening,” his voice was low and soothing, a nice baritone, and this close she could see his hair, worn long as was the fashion of Bosco, was a golden-brown honey color, a few shades darker than her own bright gold. His voice was also lightly accented and had a musical appealing ring to it.

“Good evening,” she returned with a light smile, “Is there something I can help you with?”

“Perhaps,” he agreed, his baby blue eyes intent as they studied her face, “Were you perhaps the one who told the origin story of the Festival of Lights yesterday evening?”

“I am,” she acknowledged a little surprised to be recognized, especially since she’d chosen a much more casual look for walking around the fair on her day off, dark jeans, steel toed boots, and a nice top, with her hair in a simple ponytail and no make-up outside a bit of Chapstick, the complete opposite of her appearance of the night before.

“I thought so,” he told her with a smile, “I was hoping to congratulate you after your wonderful performance, but I got swept away before I could.”

“Thank you,” she told him a little flattered but also still a little wary of the man, who up close was a good head taller than her.

“Might I have your name?” he asked politely.

“It’s Lucy,” she answered figuring she might as well be polite back, though not polite enough that she was going to let him know her surname, “Nice to meet you.”

“I’m Farron,” he returned apparently following her lead, the amused turn of his lips letting her know he’d caught on to her withholding part of her name from him, “And the pleasure’s all mine.”

“What brings you to Fiore?” she asked, glad that she’d had plenty of practice making small talk and didn’t stumble at all or let awkward silence fall between them, “The Festival of Lights?”

“That among other things,” he agreed with a charming smile, that probably made many a woman swoon, though with her it only served to make her feel suspicious and a bit on edge.

“And are you enjoying your time here?” she asked lightly, keeping her budding suspicions off her face.

“I am, though it’s a very different experience than Bosco,” he told her equally light, though the comment managed to peak her interest.

“Oh?” she probed, more than a bit interested to hear what he might have to say about his home country, “How so?”

The conversation actually flowed surprisingly easily from there as he told her about the little differences he’d noted about the Fiore Festival of Lights, versus the one they had in Bosco. Theirs was apparently held around the outskirts of the Grass Sea, which made sense considering the bioluminescent plants in it, and they had their own version of the creation myth that varied just a bit from the version she’d been told by her mother.

Lucy listened raptly to his descriptions, particularly to that of the Grass Sea, which she’d read about in her studies, and was on her list of things she definitely needed to see in this life time, not only because it was beautiful, but because the water supposedly had healing properties, and because she thought Aquarius would probably thoroughly enjoy the experience.

Farron answered all her questions with ease, seemingly delighted to talk about his home country and in turn asked her a few of his own. Luckily thanks to her travels and her studies there wasn’t much she couldn’t answer, and the more they talked the more at ease she felt in his presence. It might’ve been unnerving, but her gut told her he didn’t mean any harm and neither Padfoot nor Cam seemed to object to his presence either.

She found she liked him a lot, which was a bit of a surprise. He was a fairly serious person, and clearly very much in love with his home country, but he was also polite, respectful and well-spoken. It also didn’t hurt that he was also incredibly attractive, and though she was listening to him attentively, she also couldn’t stop her eyes from wandering to his lips from time to time.

It had been a good long while since she’d been this attracted to a man, certainly not in this life, and she liked to think he was at least a little bit attracted to her too if the way he was lightly flirting with her here and there was any indication.

Time passed quickly, almost too quickly and before she knew it, it was time to head back to help Cana close things down for the night. She’d had a lot of fun though and was reluctant to part from her new acquaintance, luckily it seemed he liked her too, and he insisted on accompanying her back to the area where she and Cana had their tent set up.

The look on her friend’s face when she wandered in with Farron at her side almost made her lose her composure and start giggling at the way she almost drooled over her handsome companion. Not that she could blame her. Though she probably could’ve done without the congratulatory winks the other woman kept throwing her way, and the hints that Cana would be more than glad to vacate their room for a while if Lucy needed her to, hints Farron had clearly picked up on if the amused light dancing in his blue eyes was any indication. However, despite how attractive he was, Lucy wasn’t about to kick her friend out, especially not given how late it was, even if she was willing to be kicked.

“You really didn’t have to walk us all the way back,” she told him a bit sheepishly, well aware that Cana had purposefully ditched the two of them, claiming she needed to go to the bathroom, so she could leave the two of them alone, which would’ve been much more believable if not for the salacious wink she’d sent in their direction before darting up the stairs.

“It was my pleasure,” he told her clearly still rather amused by Cana’s antics, “It allowed me to spend more time in your company after all.”

“That’s sweet of you to say,” she told him her entire being feeling rather light and bubbly after the enjoyable night she’d had with him, “I liked spending time with you too.”

“Then perhaps you wouldn’t be opposed to spending some more with me? Tomorrow?” he asked lightly.

“I’d love to, but unfortunately it’s my turn to work again tomorrow,” she told him genuinely regretful at the loss. If she asked Cana would probably be willing to switch her a day, but she didn’t want to put her friend out at all, and didn’t feel it was worth asking, no matter how attractive the man was.

“Then the day after perhaps?” he persisted, surprising her a bit with his willingness to keep pursuing her. After all, given how attractive and well-spoken he was he could probably have any woman at the Festival, and she didn’t think of herself as anything particularly special, even if she was aware she was rather attractive in this life.

“I’d like that,” she agreed, truly meaning the words as she said them. He’d been really enjoyable company and she was sure that she’d have more fun with him than she would simply wandering on her own, especially since Cam had expressed that he’d seen enough and Padfoot had hinted at wanting to go off and maybe cause a little mischief.

“Then I’ll meet you at your booth, the day after tomorrow when the Festival opens for the night,” he told her surprising her a bit as he reached forward to gently tuck a piece of hair behind her ear, his warm fingers gently brushing her cheek and making her heart flip in her chest.

“Is that a promise,” she flirted back indulging in the warm feeling of wanting and being wanted.

“It is,” he agreed, eyes warm as they roamed her face clearly searching for consent, “And because I’m Boscan, perhaps we should seal our promise the Boscan way yes?”

She grinned at that, well aware of this particular Boscan custom, and tilted her face up in response, her hand latching on to the lapel of his open jacket in a clear invitation, one he accepted easily, pressing his warm full lips to her own.

She smiled into the kiss, unable to help herself, and felt his own lips curl beneath hers in response, clearly just as pleased to taste her, as she was him. He was a fantastic kisser, his lips molding perfectly to hers, warm and enticing even as he kept his hands respectfully at her waist. 

Eventually she pulled away from him a little breathless and extremely pleased with the first non-platonic kiss she’d received in this new life, which was infinitely superior to the clumsy bumbling thing Ron had pressed on her at the Yule Ball, both because she and Ron weren’t compatible at all, which meant it had been a bit like she imagined kissing a sibling would be like and because inexperience had seen them knocking together rather painfully.

This kiss was leagues better than that one had been, as the man was clearly extremely experienced, not surprising given that he was Boscan, and kissing was a major piece of their culture. It also helped that despite not having experience in this particular body, she did still know what to do.

“I’ll see you the day after tomorrow,” he affirmed his voice low and his eyes practically smoldering in a way that made her feel extremely desirable, and sent warmth curling through her.

“I’ll look forward to it,” she told him with a giddy grin, feeling a little silly, but ultimately very pleased with herself as she turned away from him to head back up the stairs to the hotel room she shared with Cana.

Somehow, she wasn’t in the least bit surprised to see her friend lingering just a way up the stairs, clearly spying and ready and waiting to ambush her with the thousands of questions she no doubt had. Lucy couldn’t bring herself to do anything but laugh and go along with it as her eager friend practically dragged her back to their shared room, demanding she divulge every little detail of her interaction with Farron from Bosco.

In what had become something of a ritual for them, they had an amazing bath together as the two of them giggled over how good looking the man was, and his kissing ability, Cana happily divulging some of her own experiences with Boscan men who were, in her professional opinion, some of the best lovers out there.

It was really nice to simply have girl talk with a friend, something she hadn’t gotten a lot of in her old life, mostly because the years she should’ve been having her best talks were years she spent struggling just to stay alive. That and Hermione wasn’t exactly the girl talk type. She hadn’t been a prude per se, but she’d never been comfortable discussing things openly the way she’d sometimes heard Lavender and Parvati do in the dorms sometimes, and Lucy had never wanted to push her or make her uncomfortable, so had simply foregone the experience.

She was glad she got to have it now, enjoying giggling with and equally giggly Cana, who was simply happy for her. It was a new life experience she felt should be treasured no matter how insignificant it might be to some, because it meant a lot to her.

She fell asleep that night, feeling utterly content and looking forward to what the rest of the Festival of Lights would bring.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **  
> _Firstly and most importantly, A huge, huge thanks to TeaDrinkingFlowers for making this chapter possible!_  
>  **
> 
> As a reminder this story is still on Hiatus! If you want to know why, as usual you can learn the full story [here on my tumblr!](https://evenescenttranquility.tumblr.com/post/634344308607205376/life-update)
> 
> **Crystal Keys**
> 
> 1\. Cetus (Sea Monster)
> 
> **Gold Keys**
> 
> 1\. Virgo (The Maiden) Earth Magic
> 
> 2\. Cancer (The Crab)
> 
> 3\. Aquarius (The Water Bearer) Water Magic
> 
> 4\. Taurus (The Bull)
> 
> 5\. Ophiuchus (The Serpent)
> 
> 6\. Libra (The Balance/Scales) Gravity Magic
> 
> **Silver Keys**
> 
> 1\. Canis Major/Padfoot (The Great Dog) Shadow Magic
> 
> 2\. Pyxis (The Compass) Directional Magic
> 
> 3\. Crux (The Southern Cross) Archive Magic
> 
> 4\. Horologium (The Clock)
> 
> 5\. Chameleon/Cam (The Chameleon) Invisibility Magic
> 
> 6\. Lyra (The Lyre)
> 
> Also! Farron the character belongs to Desna, who has given me permission to use their characters! He is **not** the final pairing for this story, by any means, not to worry. He's just a handsome guy Hari/Lucy has found that she likes. Also I know we went of the rails of canon, but trust me when I say this will all be really important to the plot later I have lots of plans.
> 
> I hope you enjoyed the update everyone! 😊💖


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> read end notes please!

_Italics = Boscan_

Working their booth for the second time was a lot easier than the first. Things went incredibly smoothly, and she had a lot more confidence both in her performance and in her audience. They were received spectacularly well, even better than they had the first night. In fact, several people had rushed straight to her tent, without need for Lyra to try to draw them in to hear her tell the origin story of the festival again.

It was incredibly flattering, and she and her spirits had all had a good time. Crux in particular was thrilled that he had a willing audience to listen to his tales about the Celestial Spirits. Lyra was also pleased, and apparently feeling incredibly inspired. The normally laidback spirit had gone on for a while about her many new song ideas that she intended to compose, inspired by their time.

She wasn’t the only one feeling rather inspired either. Cana had also been moved, though for an entirely different reason. Clearly overjoyed and feeling rather frisky, Cana had told her in no uncertain terms that she fully intended to hunt down her own ‘Boscan Bon-Bon’ both for a little fun and to see if she could find a different room for herself so theirs would be open for Lucy, should she decide to bring Farron back. 

According to her friend she even had a back-up plan for seducing one of the guys from Blue Pegasus if that didn’t work out, which Lucy had tried to tell her was highly unnecessary, but Cana had been insistent. Her friend was also insistent on lending her some birth control, which she wasn’t sure whether to be amused or just grateful for seeing as she hadn’t thought to bring any herself.

It was rather silly of her, and something she made a mental note to fix in the future. After all birth control in this life was just as easy as it had been on the magical side of her previous life, and maybe even easier. After all the tablets in this life just needed to be ingested and lasted for forty-eight hours, they didn’t require any concentration or magical energy the way contraceptive spells did, and tasted a heck of a lot better than any of the potions alternatives had too.

Even better, the birth control in this life was a hundred percent effective and also prevented any sort of sexually transmitted diseases. They were honestly a bit of a miracle to her way of thinking, especially since they were also fairly cheap and readily available now that she was away from the upper class who’d always sneered at such things, claiming that birth control encouraged promiscuity.

That was stupidity she didn’t even like to think on frankly, especially since the hypocrisy of it all was galling. The way everyone utterly disregarded and sneered at bastard children while also refusing to take the birth control that would stop that sort of thing was the absolute height of stupidity. It made her even more grateful that she’d managed to escape, both her father and that life, which would’ve more than likely driven her insane.

It was a thought she’d voiced to Cana, who’d grimaced in distaste and explained she’d never understood the prudish sexist customs of the upper class. It wasn’t all that surprising considering Cana was probably the most open woman she’d ever met, but it had been nice to have someone to complain to who agreed with her wholeheartedly, even if she had gotten teased a bit about her own virgin status and encouraged to let Farron take care of that for her.

The absolutely wicked look the other woman had shot her when he showed up at their booth so the two of them could hang out during festival hours had her giggling for several minutes, even after they’d left the vicinity. Luckily Farron didn’t seem to mind and had even chuckled a bit himself, the sound deep, rich and utterly enticing.

“Your friend seems like the supportive type,” he noted as the two of them meandered through the festival. He’d offered her an arm, and she’d gladly taken it, more than willing to hold on to him, but also glad she wouldn’t have to worry about accidentally being separated from him by the crowd.

“She is that,” Lucy acknowledged with a wry smile.

“She’d fit right in, in Bosco,” he told her with an amused grin, “No doubt you’ve heard, but we Boscans tend to be a little more open about that sort of thing.”

“I had heard,” she acknowledged with a smile of her own, “Will you tell me about it?”

Farron looked at her for a long moment, his baby blue eyes surprisingly calculating as he searched her face for something. She tried to project back the true, open curiosity she felt for the subject, figuring it would be interesting to hear about it from the Boscan point of view.

Whatever he was looking for, he apparently found it because he nodded, and slowly began to tell her more about Boscan culture. It was fairly clear that he started with the more vanilla aspects of the culture, things that would be more palatable for someone who’d grown up in Fiore that might be a bit outside the norm, but not too extreme.

It included things like how they greeted one another with kisses, on the cheek or forehead or even on the lips depending on the individual, for friends, family, and lovers alike, as well as how they were a fairly physical culture in general. He also talked about how they sealed things like promises with kisses, and how it was an incredibly large and important part of their culture. They even had several special traditions based around kissing, including the famous Boscan Kissing Chocolate.

It was something she’d always been terribly tempted to try. The secret of how it was made was closely guarded by its producers in Bosco, the recipe apparently considered one of the countries national treasures. According to what she knew it supposedly tasted different depending on if you ate it alone, or shared it with a partner, and would even vary depending on the partner. Sharing though wasn’t quite the right word for it, because just as the name implied, you were supposed to kiss while using it. More specifically you were supposed to let it melt on your tongue and let your partner lick it off.

There was something incredibly intriguing and sensual about the idea, an opinion she was all too happy to share with Farron, especially since she wanted to know if he’d tried it. It turned out he’d tried it several times, and while he did his best to describe the experience for her, he also told her it was something she really had to experience for herself.

After that he seemed to open up a bit more. He still cast her looks every once in a while, that made her feel like he was looking for a reaction of some sort from her, but he did move on to more of what she wanted to know.

It turned out that Boscans had a very free idea of sex and sexuality, even more than she ever would’ve imagined and had what she could only really liken to extensive sexual education classes. She’d been a little shocked to learn that these classes were even hands on, and included losing your virginity to someone.

They were pretty much required classes, ones that started when a person turned sixteen. The classes themselves were one on one with a special instructor called a Sudepah, who helped guide the teen through exploring both sex and sexuality in a controlled environment. 

If she was completely honest with herself, her first and most immediate thought had been revulsion. She couldn’t imagine requiring people to have sex, it honestly sounded utterly repulsive to her, a violation of human rights. It was basically condoned rape, letting an authority figure take advantage of someone under their care, something she never, ever would’ve accepted.

Farron must’ve seen it in her face, despite her best efforts to hide her thoughts, because he politely went on to explain some things for her. It turned out it wasn’t as bad as she was originally thinking it was. For one thing, the Sudepah wouldn’t touch the student unless the student explicitly asked to be touched, and the student in question got to choose, not only their Sudepah, but their partner when it came to exploring the more physical aspects of intimacy.

Rape in Bosco was actually considered one of their most severe crimes and punishable by death, no exceptions. Pedophilia was also punishable by death, no one was allowed to touch children who had yet to complete their classes with a Sudepah, and that death was one that was purposefully drawn out and excruciatingly painful.

These classes also tended to last quite a while, so most students didn’t tend to lose their virginity until they were at least seventeen and often times even eighteen or nineteen depending on when they started and how quickly they progressed. The pace of the classes was entirely up to the student in question. 

The fact that the classes existed at all meant that there was no such thing as underaged sex in Bosco outside very, very rare occasions. There were less than a handful of cases per year because students knew all they had to do was complete the classes and then they were free to pursue their desires as much as they pleased. 

It also meant that safe and consensual sex was practically drilled into the entire population, which was a huge plus. The whole explanation did make her feel quite a bit better about things, though she did still have some questions, questions Farron seemed surprisingly delighted to answer for her.

“How do you ensure the Sudepah don’t take advantage of the children?” she asked him, unable to keep the slight frown off her face, watching him intently, “It’s very easy to manipulate children that age to warp their ideas of what’s acceptable and what isn’t, especially when it comes to sex and intimacy. How do you stop the Sudepah from grooming the children in the ways they desire, rather than in ways that are best for the children?”

It was a question that had been bothering her since the idea of Sudepah had been explained to her. As someone who’d been rather badly screwed over by authority figures herself in her previous life at right around that age, she knew how terrible it could be. Even in this new life with most of her past emotions and traumas washed clean by death she still hadn’t quite fully recovered from it all.

“You speak as if you weren’t close to the same age as those children,” Farron pointed out shrewdly, his eyes intent on her face.

“Because I’m not,” she told him with a shrug, clearly surprising him, before carefully explaining, “A child that is. I haven’t been a child since my mother died when I was twelve. There are certain traumas and experiences that a person can’t live through without no longer considering themselves akin to their peers.”

“I can see that,” Farron murmured clearly thoughtful as he studied her face, though he thankfully didn’t press the issue. She wasn’t a big fan of lying to anyone, and this was the closest she could comfortably come to the truth without divulging everything, something she certainly wasn’t about to do to a near stranger.

“As for the Sudepah, the position is greatly revered throughout Bosco. They are some of the most highly respected people in our country, akin to the priests of Minstrel in some ways,” he explained patiently, “They go through rigorous training, and are put through intense physical and mental examinations by lauded experts. They also have their position reviewed every other year to ensure nothing has changed and they’re still doing their due diligence.” 

“We have, admittedly, had trouble with Sudepahs like the kind you’re no doubt imagining in the past,” he admitted, honestly, “But we do our best to crack down extremely harshly on such things. That and the children are also advised in advance what their Sudepah is and isn’t allowed to do. Any allegations made against a Sudepah are always taken extremely seriously and children are encouraged to report even the most minor of infractions.”

“And you don’t get false reports?” she asked curiously, unable to help herself. She was well aware that things could work both ways, and thanks to her experience with Sirius and the death eaters after the war both willing and unwilling, knew how easily it was to see a person’s life completely ruined by false charges.

“We do, but thanks to truth spells and the like such matters are always sorted extremely quickly, and there are severe punishments for purposefully trying to ruin someone in such a way,” he explained easily, watching her with clear interest in his face, “Though misunderstandings and accidents are quickly forgiven on both sides.”

“Sounds like you’ve thought of everything,” she noted, unable to keep the approval out of her tone, something he clearly noticed as he offered her his own pleased smile.

“We do try, though there are a few things that slip through the cracks, we do our best,” he told her, both humble and extremely proud of his country, that he clearly loved dearly, “Do you have any other questions?”

“I do,” she admitted, a little hesitantly, unsure if she was bothering him. She was doing her best not to be rude, but felt like she might unknowingly be anyway despite her best efforts, “If you don’t mind? I’m afraid some of them are probably rather vulgar.”

“Not at all,” he assured her, clearly delighted, his handsome face lit with a bright, approving smile, “Ask away.”

“What do you do about women who prefer women?” she asked bluntly, seeing no way around it, “Unless they use a toy of some sort, traditional ‘loss of virginity via penetration’ isn’t really possible.”

“All preferences are taken into account,” he assured her seriously, not offended in the least, “By our standard, loss of virginity is defined as sharing mutual orgasm with one another, no penetration needed.”

“All preferences?” she prompted, “Even those who just flat out don’t like sex?”

“Those people never graduate from their classes with the Sudepah, because all classes that require hands on physical interaction are voluntary,” Farron explained casually, “It means that while they can still become an adult in all other ways, sexual contact for them is expressly forbidden unless they go back and graduate.”

“You said sexual contact with those who haven’t completed their classes with the Sudepah is considered pedophilia and illegal,” she pointed out shrewdly, earning a rather fierce grin from Farron.

“That’s absolutely right, anyone who touches someone who hasn’t completed their Sudepah classes is made to regret it,” he told her, utterly remorseless. It was an attitude she appreciated, and wholly approved of.

“Bosco sounds pretty amazing,” she admitted honestly, “I’ve always wanted to visit. Though now I’m curious what happens after you graduate from Sudepah lessons? Are you just free to approach whoever about sex?”

“You’re more than welcome to ask anyone you like, though it’s best to ask if they’re promised first,” he explained patiently.

“Promised? Is that like engaged?” she asked, hoping to clarify.

“For all intents and purposes yes. Basically, it’s an agreement to be exclusive unless the two of you agree to share and approach someone together. Telling a Boscan you’re promised ensures they back off right away,” he told her, with a nod, “No always means no, but it’s especially true with people who are promised because the legal repercussions are even more extreme if you try to push.”

“Then I suppose the legal repercussions for trying to push someone married are even worse?” she hypothesized, thoughtfully.

“That’s right,” he agreed, with a slight smile, “Marriage is considered almost holy in Bosco, and divorce all but impossible, mostly because unlike here the only reason to get married is for love, physical attraction and sex aren’t really factors at all.”

“What about children?” she asked curiously, “You don’t marry for children?”

“Not necessarily,” he told her with a thoughtful frown, “Bastards don’t have quite the stigma attached to them in Bosco that they do here, and so long as the mother can prove who the father is, both parents are responsible for raising the child, though those kind of disputes rarely ever happen considering birth control is widely accepted in Bosco and taken by both parties. Unwanted children are incredibly rare, and those that are born are usually immediately adopted out very quickly.”

“And money?” she prompted, still curious about Boscan marriage, which honestly sounded almost too good to be true, “Do you not have gold diggers in Bosco?”

She’d suffered through numerous proposals after the war ended, people trying to get their hands on her money, or share some of her fame. Unfortunately for them she’d left all her money to Teddy, Hermione, and the Weasleys and had, had absolutely no intention of marrying anyone without extreme testing beforehand to ensure they were with her for the right reasons. 

“Unfortunately, that seems to be a universal problem and one we haven’t solved yet,” Farron admitted wryly, “There are power hungry, greedy people in Bosco too, though I like to think we’ve made things easier when it comes to avoiding such things, taking children and sex out of the equation when it comes to things people usually use to manipulate others with.

“I suppose nothing’s perfect,” she acknowledged, with a laugh, “Though it does sound quite a bit better than things here.”

He smiled at her, clearly pleased at the admittance as the two of them continued to walk slowly around the festival, pausing here and there to admire the things that caught their eye. Both of them had found treats to munch on, Farron nibbling at some candied nuts, while she sipped at her freshly squeezed raspberry lemonade.

“So, if I want to have sex with someone from Bosco do I just go up and ask if they’re promised?” she asked unable to help her curiosity as she took a sip of her sweet, fruity drink.

“That’s right,” Farron agreed clearly amused at the question, “And if they say no you ask them _Would you like to share pleasure with me?_ ”

“Share pleasure?” Lucy interpreted carefully, dusting off her rusty language skills. The language of Bosco was very similar to Spanish from her last life, the same way Minstrellian was similar to French, and Fioran to something like a mix between Japanese and English.”

“That’s right,” Farron told her, his tone impressed as he watched her with curious eyes, “ _Do you speak Boscan, my lady?_ ”

“ _Only a little bit,_ ” she told him in the same language, her attempt clumsy compared to the smooth roll of his words. She’d always found accents rather attractive, and probably the only reason for her crush on Oliver Wood from her last life. Farron’s accent and speaking in his native language was no exception.

“Still rather impressive,” he mused, eyeing her with clear appreciation in his gaze, “Especially, for a Fioran.”

“Thank you, I think,” she told him, amused.

“I meant no offense,” he assured her, quickly, “Only that most Fiorans don’t particularly care to look outside their own country and when they do it’s usually to Minstrel.”

“Fair enough,” she agreed, knowing he was absolutely right. A lot of people from Fiore, especially the wealthy, tended to be rather insular and elitist, the same as the magical community from her last life had been.

“Thank you for answering all of my questions, I know some of them must’ve come across rather impolite,” she told him, figuring she might as well get it off her chest, feeling it was rather important to say. She’d found she really did rather like Farron, and not just because of the way he looked.

He’d been incredibly patient with her, answering all her questions, polite, and seemingly incredibly easy-going. Something about him had just seemed to click for her in the same way she’d clicked with Cana, Mirajane and Bickslow from Fairy Tail. 

“No, thank _you_ for keeping an open mind, even when some of my answers initially repulsed you,” Farron told her, his eyes intent and the words surprisingly sincere, “You asked questions and heard me out, you didn’t shut me out or assume I was some kind of sex crazed barbarian. I appreciate that.”

“You really shouldn’t have to thank a person for common courtesy Farron,” she told him honestly, “It was my pleasure to learn more about your country, and just because your ways are different from the ones I grew up with doesn’t necessarily make them bad or wrong.”

“If only more people thought that way,” he voiced wistfully, an almost fond look on his face as he gently tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, the intimate gesture brining a surprising heat to her cheeks, “It would make life so much simpler. No, I think what you did was rather special Lucy.”

She wanted to protest that, but she knew as well as he did that people could be closed minded bigots. After all, between Jude and the Dursleys she’d grown up with them in both lives. It really was unfair sometimes; how awful people could be.

“Thank you,” she told him as sincerely as she could, unsure exactly how to respond but hoping her words were adequate, “That’s sweet of you to say.”

“I think I’d like to visit Bosco someday,” she told him, into the silence that followed her words, as Farron watched her with amusement and gentle understanding on his face as she carefully changed the subject.

“I hope you do,” he answered with a smile, “I think you’d quite enjoy it, and that the people there would quite enjoy you as well.”

“Enjoy me?” she asked, thoroughly amused by the way he’d worded it.

“Blondes are rare in Bosco, and Blondes with eyes like yours are rare period, we like beauty in all forms, but rarity is a beauty all its own,” he told her with a smile, “Everyone will approach wanting to share pleasure with you.”

“But you’re blond,” she pointed out with a laugh, “Does that make you rare and popular too?”

“What do you think?” he asked with a teasing smile, something slightly wicked about it that sent a thrill of desire through her and had her smiling easily back at him.

“I think you probably are rather sought after, though whether that’s for your looks or tongue I don’t know,” she flirted back lightly.

“I do have a very talented tongue,” he admittedly mischievously, eyes dancing with laughter, the innuendo clear in his voice.

She’d honestly meant the way he spoke, not anything more explicit, but the way he said it, had her throwing her head back with delighted laughter. The two of them spent quite a while happily bantering and flirting up a storm. She found the more she spoke to him, the more she liked him, thus she didn’t protest at all when he carefully guided her into a few dark corners to steal kisses.

Each kiss was sweet, and tender, enough to steal her breath away. His hands were careful, and respectful and he never, ever pushed her, letting her take the lead more often than not. He was honestly utterly delightful and she as the night wore one she wondered if she might not end up rather grateful for Cana’s gift of birth control after all.

She honestly hadn’t had that much carefree fun with another human being in a long time, probably not since before her mother died, and she enjoyed it quite a bit. The atmosphere of the festival and the companion at her side, more than she honestly could’ve ever hoped for when Cana had decided to drag her along on this job.

It was close to the end of the night, only about forty-five minutes from the time she was supposed to go back and meet Cana at their tent. She’d been wandering around with Farron for hours, delighting in his company when she spotted it. It was a small booth, tucked a little way back from the others, clearly selling magical items, a few lacrima, some enchanted jewelry, and a handful of weapons. However, what caught her attention was the familiar magic hovering around one of the cases.

She didn’t waste a second dragging her amused but willing companion over to the booth, her heart galloping in her chest at the feel of that magic. It was Celestial magic without a doubt, the feel of it ingrained on her psyche, and decently strong at that, which meant the vendor was selling keys. 

She didn’t doubt they were silver keys, probably the kind that had several copies of them floating around here and there, as finding a gold key for sale was like finding a priceless antique at a flea market, not impossible but not likely either. Still they were fairly rare, and she was eager to see what the vendor had.

Normally she wouldn’t be so quick to add more members of her family, especially since she didn’t feel like she’d spent enough time getting to know Libra yet, but she’d also made a promise to Romeo to teach him a bit about Celestial Spirits magic if she could. She hadn’t been able to do it yet, as she didn’t have a Key she could gift him, unwilling to part with any of her beloved family members, so she’d been on the lookout for something new.

Unfortunately, it hadn’t been easy, Magnolia, despite being home to the Fairy Tail Guild, only had a couple magic stores, ones that weren’t all the impressive. She’d already scoured both to no avail. While she hadn’t thought to look while she was in Crocus she probably should’ve considering how much bigger the capital was. However, it seemed luck was on her side.

It didn’t take her long to lock on to the keys, which were laid out on the display case, each clearly well taken care of and polished to a shine. None of them were particularly rare, but that didn’t matter considering it was probably better to get Romeo one that would be easy to summon rather than something rare. It was especially important since he wasn’t going to pursue Celestial magic seriously and she didn’t want him something that someone else might try to take from him now that she knew that was also a possibility.

“What do you think Padfoot?” she asked absently as she looked over the keys on display, “Any opinions?”

“They all look decent, for the runt, right?” he asked his head popping out of her shadow to peer over her shoulder, clearly startling both the vendor and a few of the other patrons. Farron also looked a bit startled, though he recovered quickly and unlike some of the others didn’t look frightened at all.

“That’s right,” she affirmed, ignoring the looks she was getting from the people around her, as Padfoot quietly snickered in her ear, extremely amused at having startled the humans around, “Though I would’ve thought you would choose Canis Minor right off the bat.”

“The Nickola line isn’t much of a dog line,” Padfoot told her with a huff, clearly a bit disdainful of the other canine constellation, “He always takes up a really weird form, and is a bit odd in general.”

“So, go for one of the others?” she asked, eying the other two, “Ursa Minor or Pavo?”

“I didn’t say that,” he friend backtracked immediately, “Runt might like the weirdos for all I know.”

“You’re no help,” she grumbled at him, earning an indignant huff from the canine, who promptly disappeared back into her shadow, no doubt going to sulk about it.

She looked over the keys carefully for another minute before finally heaving a sigh, as she remembered getting her own first key. It was a special moment and she wanted it to be special for Romeo too. She just wasn’t sure how to do that. It would’ve been so much easier if Romeo was there to choose, but considering he was all the way back in Magnolia and no doubt asleep at home that wasn’t an option.

Normally she might just wait until the next day, and call him, but then there was a chance someone else would buy the key he wanted before she could pick it up for him, especially since she had to work tomorrow night and wouldn’t be able to come until the day after. She probably could send Cana, but she wasn’t sure she’d be able to give the other woman proper directions back to the stall, since she wasn’t entirely sure where they were in the first place. She didn’t want her friend to spend half her night looking for the place. Really there was just one thing to do if she wanted him to have a choice.

“How much for all three?” she asked the vendor with a sigh, quietly resigning herself to getting two new family members. 

A part of her was excited for it, but another part was a bit concerned. She wanted time to bond with all her spirits and never wanted them to feel as though she was neglecting them. It meant she probably shouldn’t allow herself to look for or pick up any more keys for at least a few months while she got the new members settled in a bit better.

“Are you sure miss?” the vendor asked, eyeing her, clearly unsure from her casual attire that she might not be able to afford his prices.

“I’m sure,” she informed him flatly, “None of these silver keys are all that rare, the Canis Minor line in particular is incredibly easy to get ahold of, and shouldn’t actually be all that expensive.”

“A hundred fifty thousand jewel for the lot them miss,” he told her dismissively.

“You’re joking,” she countered, her tone flat and bored, glad despite everything that as the heiress to the Heartfilia line she more than knew how to bargain with people, “Canis Major sells for twenty thousand at most. Do you always try to rip off your customers? I’ll pay you seventy-five thousand.”

She made sure to say the last bit in a voice that carried a bit, making those around her murmur. A couple of them even set down the items they’d been looking at, clearly wary, making the vendor grit his teeth in frustration, though there was a new respect in his eyes as he offered, “A hundred and twenty-five thousand, Canis Minor is common true, but the other two are a little rarer.”

“Ninety thousand,” she countered, “They’re rare, but not that rare, and everyone knows Pavo is only good for changing the color of things. You can do the exact same thing with a color changing magic wand and those are only worth thirty thousand jewel at most, plus unlike Pavo they don’t take magic from the user.”

She wasn’t usually the type to put down the magic of her keys, as she truly felt all of them could be useful, but in this situation, it was best to be as disparaging as possible. Plus, what she said about Pavo wasn’t exactly true. Yes, the Peacock could do color changing magic, and that was what that particular constellation was most known for. 

In fact, according to her mother, when she was young Pavo had been really popular among women who could use magic, because back then color changing magic was far rarer and more expensive. It was how she’d gotten her hands on her own copy of Pavo, though Layla had given that key away long before Lucy was born, to a famous designer in Minstrel because the peacock spirit she’d had, had wanted to be involved in fashion.

However, the real ability of Pavo lay in their disguise magic, able to make a person look like anyone they pleased, to allow their user to pass unnoticed in crowds at times where being invisible would be a hindrance. After all being invisible didn’t make a person intangible, and sometimes it was better to blend in rather than to disappear entirely.

It wasn’t a well-known ability for the key though, mostly because most summoners were selfish and didn’t bother to ask, assuming the common knowledge was the extent of the Spirit’s abilities. It was their loss honestly, and she could imagine Romeo having a lot of fun with it, if he could get over the association of peacocks being a more girly animal and picked that key.

She hadn’t technically lied to the vendor either, telling him ‘everybody knows’ rather than stating outright that, that was what the spirit’s abilities were. It was a bit of misdirection she was honestly rather proud of, as she could say under truth spell that she hadn’t lied.

“A hundred thousand jewel,” the vendor told her firmly, pulling her from her racing thoughts, the firm look in his eye letting her know he wouldn’t budge on this, “And not a jewel less young lady.”

“Agreed,” she told him immediately, offering up her hand. The two of them shook on it, and she immediately went for her purse. A hundred thousand jewel was nothing to sniff at honestly, and more than a month’s worth of rent, but luckily, she’d done well enough during her work days from her story telling that she had more than enough, quickly handing over the correct amount to the vendor and accepting the keys.

She didn’t bother to stow them away in her purse, but instead allowed everyone who might be watching and thinking about stealing from her get a good view as she very obviously popped them into requip space. They would be completely safe there, as everyone knew no one but the mage who put them there could pull things out of requip space.

“That was rather impressive bartering,” Farron told her, offering his arm to her as they moved away from the stall, reminding her of his presence.

“Thank you,” she offered demurely, “Sometimes it pays to be the daughter of a businessman.”

“I see,” he acknowledged with a nod, “And you used requip magic too? I didn’t think Fioran mages taught that to everyone the way they do in Bosco.”

“They don’t,” she admitted a little startled, “I had to learn it on my own, because I wanted to protect my keys. You say everyone learns in Bosco?”

“Everyone who’s a mage,” he told her with a grin, “It’s one of the first things they teach us, because unlike here a lot of the Guilds in Bosco have formal attire and they want us to keep it on us at all times, and be able to change at a moment’s notice.”

“Sounds like a pain,” Lucy acknowledged with a huff, “I still haven’t figured out how to change my clothes while they’re still on me and I’ve been trying for years. Though I am finally able to store quite a bit in my requip space.”

“I’ve heard it’s harder for people whose magic is heavily aligned to a single thing to learn other magics, though the trade-off is of course that those who are only aligned to that single thing are far better at it than any generalist could ever hope to be,” Farron told her thoughtfully.

“That makes sense,” she acknowledged a little fascinated by the new information, “According to my mother’s stories the women in my family have always been heavily aligned to Celestial Spirit Magic.”

“Speaking of magic, I do have to ask, that being from before, Padfoot you called him? Was he using shadow magic?” Farron asked a light frown on his face.

“And if he was?” Lucy challenged keeping her tone light, though she felt Padfoot bristling in the shadows, her fingers moving automatically to the place where she tended to requip her keys, brushing her fingers along the edge of the dimensional pocket.

She knew that a lot of people thought Shadow Magic was evil, mostly because it was a magic a lot of Dark Guilds had tried to use in the past, both successfully and unsuccessfully. It didn’t help that, much like in her story of the Origin of the Celestial Spirit Realm, people tended to be naturally afraid of the dark. It gave them a prejudice that was hard to argue with. 

Shadow mages were right up there with Seith mages as the type of magic users ordinary people feared the most, though at least Shadow mages weren’t illegal anywhere, unlike Seith Mages who were banned in a couple countries including Bosco if she was remembering correctly. It was all rather tragic, and reminded her of the three spells that had been termed Unforgivable in her last life.

All three had actually been intended for good things, but had been twisted by people who sought power for their own gain. The Imperius was meant to stop people who meant to harm themselves or others, to literally pull them back from the edge if necessary. The Cruciatus was a shock that was meant to jolt a patient’s heart back into rhythm if it fell out of it, and could also be used as defibrillation. Avada Kedavra was meant to humanely euthanize farm animals who were meant to be slaughtered and eaten.

However, all three had fallen into the hands of people who had seen what they could do to humans, and who had subsequently used them enough that it became a dark trend of sorts, so much so they had to be outlawed and deemed unforgivable.

“Don’t worry,” Farron assured her, his voice careful and gentle as if speaking to a frightened animal, his eyes calm and careful as he studied her face, “I bear no prejudice against Shadow Mages. I only asked because my brother is a Shadow Mage and fairly young still. There are so few of them around that aren’t from Dark Guilds that it’s been hard to find him a teacher.”

“Padfoot?” she asked gently, unwilling to give up his secrets without permission, even if her gut did say Farron was telling the truth. His secrets were his own after all, and certainly didn’t belong to her just because she happened to hold his key and contract.

“It is Shadow Magic,” Padfoot agreed, his voice coming from over her left shoulder though it was clear he hadn’t bothered to actually emerge from the shadows to speak, probably not wanting to alarm all the citizens around, “If your brother is truly a shadow mage, you must be aware that it is a very dangerous magic to experiment with on ones own. He’ll need an experienced teacher lest he become lost or consumed by those who dwell among the shadow world.”

They didn’t have too much more time to talk, as they had to head back to the tent where Cana would be waiting for them, but the time they did have Farron grilled Padfoot about all he knew about Shadow Magic. It was clear the man was incredibly curious, but from the furrow in his brow and the anxious look in his eyes also rather worried. She couldn’t blame him Shadow Magic truly was some of the most terrifying out there, not just for its abilities, but how it could easily turn on a mage if they didn’t use it correctly.

Once they rejoined Cana at the tent, Farron bid them a hasty goodbye. He was extremely apologetic about it, but explained that he felt it would be best to contact his father as soon as possible to let him know what he’d learned about Shadow Magic. They’d known before that it was dangerous, but hadn’t realized it was quite that bad, and so felt the need to warn his father right away.

She’d of course immediately assured him it was fine, and waved him away. He went, though not before dropping a sweet kiss on her lips and asking if she’d be willing to meet up again on her next day off. She’d been more than happy to agree, and they’d gone their separate ways back to their hotels.

Despite the rather abrupt ending she’d still been feeling rather giddy about the night she’d had, and the time she’d spent with the handsome Boscan. It had been enough that she hadn’t even been bothered about Cana’s teasing, the other woman having witnessed the whole thing.

The next day she’d drawn in an even bigger crowd than the days before. Apparently, word had gotten around and everyone wanted to hear the origin story. It was more than a bit flattering, and also incredibly gratifying that she could share a bit of the legacy her mother had left her with other people. 

Cana had been ecstatic, crowing about how she’d been a hundred percent correct bringing Lucy with her on this job, because both of them were raking in the cash. It had all been extremely profitable for both of them so far, and had more than made up for the job she hadn’t even gotten paid for with Natsu.

Despite their success however, she’d actually found herself more than a bit impatient for the night to be over, so she could meet up with Farron again. The more she thought about it, the more she was very sure that she’d like to explore some things with the handsome Boscan, or share pleasure, as he apparently called it.

The whole thing had honestly made her a bit distracted, though thankfully none of her audience members seemed to notice. Cana certainly did though, and had made sure to tease her, not that the other woman really had room to talk. She’d apparently found a nice Boscan of her own, one with pretty green hair and heterochromatic eyes that she was having the time of her life with.

She was also more than happy to share all the details, the two of them giggling over him and Farron for several hours together, trading information back and forth and Cana trying to give her all sorts of tips and tricks about sex.

It was honestly kind of amusing, but also fairly helpful in its own way. She hadn’t actually had a whole lot of experience when she died, since she’d only been eighteen. She’d had a grand total of two lovers at that point, Neville, who had been the person she’d lost her virginity too in a ‘thank god we’re alive’ thing after the battle at Hogwarts when she was seventeen, and Blaise Zabini. 

The former Slytherin had just happened to be who she coincidentally hooked up with after she got drunk off her ass the day she realized she wasn’t going to live much longer. Zabini had turned out to be a generous lover, and they’d hooked up several times after that, both aware there would never be any sort of romantic relationship between them. She’d learned a lot from the experience, especially since he’d been more than willing to try anything she wanted, but that still paled in comparison to the amount of sex Cana had apparently had already in just this one lifetime.

When she’d asked why the other woman was so free with her body, both with sex and with alcohol, Cana had gotten surprisingly serious, and told her that you only live once. The card mage was a full-on believer in living every day like it was your last, a sentiment she could certainly understand given she had died at the same age she was now in her previous life.

It was honestly rather odd to think that if she managed to keep herself alive, and she didn’t see any reason why she shouldn’t be able to, for six more months she’d make it to her nineteenth birthday and would have officially lived longer in this new world than she had in her old one. Thinking back, it was honestly a bit of a miracle she had even managed to live that long in her previous life, this one, despite some of the adventures she’d had, was almost tame in comparison.

It was a gift she didn’t ever intend to overlook, and she fully intended to take Cana’s advice about living in the moment. If Farron didn’t ask her tonight, then she fully intended to pull up all her Gryffindor courage and ask him herself. She was a modern woman after all, and there was no reason for her not to do the asking.

She even made careful preparations with a happy Cana’s help, putting on some nice gold and royal blue lingerie that helped her feel sexy, powerful, and confident, and dressing up in her nice, tight leather pants, that she knew showed off her curves nicely, along with some sexy strappy heels and a white and green halter top. Cancer even helped her with her hair and make-up again, the crab spirit looking partially amused and partially appalled at helping her get ready to go seduce a man.

Honestly, the preparations might not have even been all that necessary. Farron had made his interest pretty clear with the kisses he’d shared with her the evening before, but dressing up gave her an extra boost of confidence. Enough so that she was able to smile coyly at the handsome Boscan when she saw his eyes rake over her form when they met up at the tent, clearly giving her a thorough and appreciative once over.

“You look good,” he told her admiringly, his blue eyes warm with desire.

“You’re not so bad yourself,” she told him with a laugh, though she truly meant the words. He was wearing another one of the open shirts that showed off his tattoos and the rippling muscle of his chest, this one in a dark blue that brought out his eyes. He’d paired it with dark brown leather pants that clung nicely to his thighs and hips, along with a single sapphire drop earring in one of his ears. His golden-brown hair was half up, half down, pulled back to show off that sharp planes of his face, though a few strands from his bangs still hung rather appealingly over his forehead.

“I brought you a gift,” he told her, holding out a small neatly wrapped parcel, “To make up for running off on you yesterday.”

“You didn’t need to do that,” she told him, hesitantly accepting the small package as he pressed it into her hands.

“It’s also a thank you for the warning about shadow magic. You may have saved us a good deal of trouble. My little brother is a bit of a miscreant, but he’s also very precious to us, and we wouldn’t have wanted something to happen to him due to our ignorance over the matter,” he responded seriously.

“That was all Padfoot, not me,” she answered, a little uncomfortable with his sincere gratitude, the same way she always had been, both in this life and the last. She simply wasn’t used to being thanked for anything, and it was always a bit disconcerting when it happened, even if it was also strangely gratifying when she felt she’d done something that truly deserved such thanks.

“Unfortunately, I have no clue what to get for a Celestial Spirit,” Farron admitted, completely unphased with the idea of thanking her oldest friend, which made her already high estimation of his character rise a few more notches. Most people would’ve discarded her words, because of the view of Celestial Spirits as tools or lesser beings, but apparently Farron was different.

“Just thanks is more than enough,” Padfoot chimed in from where he was watching in her shadow, voice a little gruff, clearly a little touched by the gratitude directed his way.

“Then thank you very much Padfoot of the Celestial Realms,” Farron told him with a polite, sincere dip of the head.

“You’re welcome Farron of Bosco,” Padfoot answered, the words surprisingly formal for her usually mischievous spirit. 

“Lucy, I’m going to explore the fair on my own today, enjoy your time together,” her canine friend told her quietly, the revelation startling her quite a bit. Yes, if she did get the chance to have sex with Farron tonight she’d fully expected Padfoot would make himself scarce to give her some privacy and probably to enjoy the festival. She never would’ve dreamed he would leave her alone with Farron far beforehand.

It was an immense gesture of trust for the Boscan mage, as Padfoot didn’t trust anyone really to properly look after her. Hell, he didn’t even trust _her_ to properly look out for herself, and only rarely left her side to give her privacy, and he never went far. Farron had clearly made a good impression, not just on her, but on her canine companion as well.

“Have a good time,” she told him, a little faintly, still trying to process the idea that Padfoot was leaving her alone with someone, “Try not to make too much trouble.”

Her only answer to that was a mischievous doggy grin that flashed white against the shadows cast my the tent, before his presence disappeared entirely. A little baffled she turned to Farron, who had waited patiently through the whole exchange.

“Are you going to open it?” he asked her teasingly, gesturing to the package still in her hands.

“Oh, sure,” she responded startled, hands automatically moving to do as he’d asked before even fully processing the request or remembering that she’d originally not intended to accept the gift he’d given her.

Once the ribbon was untied the wrapping came away neatly to reveal a slender bar. The writing was in Boscan, which took her a second to decipher, and she almost would’ve thought she’d interpreted wrong if not for the nice picture on the front of the wrapped bar depicting a delicious looking slab of chocolate and some cocoa beans.

“Is this what I think it is?” she asked, excited despite herself.

“You said you wanted to try it right?” he teased lightly, a pleased grin on his face, obviously delighted with her reaction.

“Where did you get this?!” she demanded, turning the bar over in her hands and admiring the packaging, which was far fancier than she’d ever seen on a bar of chocolate before, with gold leaf and embossing on thick high-quality paper. 

“I’m actually staying at the Boscan Embassy here, and they had some,” he admitted, a little hesitantly, searching her face for some kind of reaction.

“The Embassy?” she repeated slowly, her thoughts running a mile a minute as she processed what that meant. Only nobles and high ranked diplomats from other countries were allowed to stay in their respective Embassies. Studying him he certainly had the poise to be a noble, articulate and charming as he was, but something about him told her that wasn’t all he was.

“You look awfully young to be a diplomat,” she told him calmly, “Did you graduate early?”

“As a matter of fact, I did,” Farron told her clearly amused, “Though how old exactly do you think I am Lucy?”

“Twenty something,” she told him with a shrug, unbothered, “Early to mid-twenties would be my best guess. I suppose I’ve just always thought of ambassadors as old and wrinkly.”

“I’ll have to tell me father you said so,” Farron told her with a delighted laugh, “He’s an ambassador too actually, and you’re very close I’m twenty-six.”

“I’m eighteen if it matters,” she answered, figuring she might as well be honest with him, suddenly aware that by his standards she might not actually technically qualify as an adult, since she’d never been to a Sudepah, 

“You’re very mature,” he told her, clearly a bit surprised though he didn’t look too put off thankfully.

“I’ve been on my own since I was twelve and my mother died,” she told him honestly, “I raised myself after that, so it’s not really that surprising. You said your father was an ambassador too?”

“That’s right,” he agreed accepting the subject change with grace, clearly well aware that he shouldn’t press or offer sympathies, which really wasn’t all that surprising now that she knew he was a diplomat, “His name is Arman Pradesh, and I’m Farron Pradesh.”

She eyed him with surprise for a few seconds, taken aback by the sudden trust he was showing her, and the information he’d given her. Arman Pradesh was a famous name even in Fiore. The man was supposedly an incredibly talented diplomat and on top of that he also had a rather tragic story. His wife and baby son had been killed in an explosion during a diplomatic trip to Pegrande, and left him and his eldest son alone. In the memory of his wife, the generous ambassador had gone on to adopt several children, because she’d always wanted a large family. 

It was a story she was rather familiar with thanks to her studies as the Heartfilia heiress, and she realized belatedly that she actually had heard Farron’s name before in conjunction with being an ambassador. He was actually rather famous himself, having graduated university at the age of seventeen and become a decorated and valued ambassador to the Boscan Royal family less than a year later.

He was apparently someone incredibly impressive, but more importantly he’d clearly decided she could be trusted with the information. She debated for a long moment, because she hadn’t even told Cana, who was probably her closest human friend, what her last name was just yet. However, she was a firm believer in quid pro quo, and her name wouldn’t mean nearly as much to a Boscan Ambassador as it would to Cana or anyone else from Fairy Tail who were bound to have heard of her considering the Konzern owned the rail lines.

“It’s nice to meet you Farron Pradesh,” she told him, going through the motions of a curtsey, despite not wearing the skirt necessary for it, rather grateful that the gesture had been drilled into her from a very young age and didn’t feel at all awkward despite her lack, “My name is Lucy Heartfilia, of the Heartfilia Konzern.”

“Heartfilia?” Farron repeated, clearly taken aback, “You’re the runaway Heartfilia heiress?”

“I would hardly call myself a runaway, considering I am of legal age and have been for months now,” she told him, a little warily, “Though I am a little surprised you’ve heard of me.”

“You ran away when you were younger though correct?” Farron told her with a slight frown, “We ambassadors were warned to not harbor you if you happened to try crossing the border.”

“Guess it’s a good thing I didn’t try to visit other countries,” Lucy mused aloud with a sigh, “Though I never would’ve suspected Jude would put up such a fuss over it.”

“Jude?” Farron repeated looking thoroughly confused.

“Ah, my sperm donor, though I suppose you could call him my father if you really wanted to,” she told him, unable to keep the sneer off her face.

“I take it you’re not on very good terms then,” Farron mused looking a cross between concerned and amused.

“You could say that,” she answered with a shrug, “Though now that I know a little more about Boscan culture I wonder if you would’ve offered me political asylum if I’d pleaded my case to you.”

Unsurprisingly, considering he was the youngest ambassador to ever grace the halls of an Embassy Farron was very quick witted, and it didn’t take him long to put the pieces together. His face immediately darkened as he turned concerned eyes on her and demanded, “Did Jude Heartfilia rape you Lucy?”

“No,” she assured him immediately, “No, what he wanted to do was sell me off to the highest bidder in an arranged marriage so _they_ could rape me, that and he didn’t protest in the least when they harassed me in front of him, despite being underage at the time.”

Farron looked both appalled and sickened at the thought of it, plainly furious on her behalf. It was rather touching, that he looked so incredibly angry for her sake. She couldn’t ever remember anyone getting so worked up for her before, not outside Ron, Hermione, and Sirius, and Farron was nearly a stranger to her.

“We in Bosco are aware that arranged marriages are allowed in other countries,” he told her though he looked extremely revolted by the mere thought of it, “But they are illegal in Bosco, and certainly illegal to put on a minor. I would hope that we would’ve done the best we could to save you from that fate. At the very least I promise you I would’ve tried.”

“Thank you,” she told him, sincerely touched by the heartfelt declaration, gently resting her palm on his forearm, “It means a lot to me that someone, anyone would’ve tried to help me, though in the end I did manage just fine on my own with the help of my Spirits.”

“What did you do?” Farron asked, clearly trying to calm himself down and change the subject a bit.

She indulged him, telling him all about the travelling she’d done as she gently tugged him with her, guiding him around the festival. The only thing she really left out was her brief stay on the deserted island, not wanting to hint at her possession of one of the legendary crystal keys.

Farron listened intently, asking questions, and making all the right noises as she told him about her experiences. He was a fantastic audience and more than once she nearly found herself telling him something she probably should keep to herself. It was really no wonder he was considered such a fine diplomat if he was able to coax information like that out of whoever was speaking seemingly without effort.

Her talk about her time on the run kept them occupied for several hours, enough so that she nearly forgot all about the Kissing Chocolate he’d gifted her, right up until after they’d eaten dinner together and he asked if she wanted any dessert. Luckily, she’d stored it in her requip space and was able to pull it out, offering the bar back to him.

“Would you care to show me the proper way to eat this?” she asked teasingly waving it at him.

“I’d be delighted,” he told her with a clearly amused grin on his face, gently plucking the chocolate bar from her fingers, and carefully unwrapping it. Watching him she noted he had, rather elegant hands, long fingered and dexterous and her mind briefly wondered what it would feel like to have them on her skin, as he gently broke off a piece of the chocolate and offered it to her.

She attempted to take it from him, only to have him pull it back, a teasing smile on his lips as he lightly scolded, “Ah-ah Lucy, open wide for me.”

Surprised, but more than willing she did as asked opening her mouth, and letting him feed it to her. Just as instructed she allowed the sweet confection to melt on her tongue. It was wonderful chocolate, sweet and rich in flavor, but nothing particularly special, or it wasn’t right up until Farron pressed his lips to hers.

Gently he coaxed her lips open with his skilled tongue, and swiped it across her own, sending a burst of flavor across her tongue. It was sweet, minty and cool, along with a hint of something else she couldn’t begin to describe but tasted utterly exquisite. Her hands came up automatically, one reaching for his shirt lapel and the other tangling in his soft golden-brown hair, holding him to her as she pressed her mouth eagerly to his, chasing the flavor and the sensation both.

She felt his lips curl upwards under her own, and felt her own smile forming in response, utterly delighted that the chocolate had lived up to its promised splendor. Heat curled in her belly at the sensation of his lips, the taste of the chocolate, and the sizzling attraction she’d felt for him the moment she clapped eyes on him during her first day exploring the festival.

“You taste like strawberries,” he murmured against her lips, his voice husky and soft, sending a shiver of pleasure down her spine.

“And do you like strawberries?” she teased a little breathless, her heart racing in her chest as she peered into his gorgeous blue eyes.

“I love them,” he told her honestly, desire written plainly on his face.

“Then, would you care for another taste?” she asked, peering down at the chocolate he was still holding in his hands pointedly.

“I would gladly taste you Lucy, over and over and over again,” he answered, his voice low and sultry, as he broke off another piece of chocolate. She immediately opened her mouth, ready for him to feed her again, but this time he popped it into his own mouth, keeping his lips parted teasingly as he stared her in the eye, clearly daring her to come take it from him.

Lucy however, was a former Gryffindor and never one to back away from something she wanted, learning forward eagerly to recapture his lips with her own, savoring the taste of him and the chocolate as it passed between them, as she explored his mouth slow and leisurely, allowing their tongues to dance and twine together sensually, in a way that made her whole-body flush with heat.

She didn’t think she’d ever felt desire quite like this before, not even with Blaise, who had been an immensely skilled lover himself. It was more than enough to make up her mind about what she wanted from the incredibly gorgeous man, who seemed able to set her ablaze without even touching her apart from a few sensual kisses.

“If you like the way I taste Farron,” she murmured between kisses, “Then _will you share pleasure with me?_ ”

The Boscan phrase fell easily from her lips, thanks to her practice with Cana, both of them giggling up a storm over the words, though she was grateful now for being able to say them without stumbling, especially as she could see Farron’s eyes as the pupil blew wide, desire written all over his face.

“I would be delighted to share pleasure with you,” he told her the words filled with sincerity and desire, “simply show me where you’d like me Lucy, and I’m yours.”

“Mine hmm?” she asked pleased and more aroused than she’d ever remembered being before, “I look forward to seeing what a man from Bosco can do Farron. Please educate me.”

The grin he gave her in response was enough to make her entire body come alive, clearly aching for his touch, and she knew then and there she was in for a long night, and she couldn’t be more delighted by it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Huge, _huge_ thanks to Hiniko for this chapter you guys! And expect more in the coming weeks thanks to them as well! You're amazing thank you so much!
> 
> As per usual a reminder that this fic is on hiatus and if you want to know why, please see [This Tumblr Post](https://evenescenttranquility.tumblr.com/post/634344308607205376/life-update) I hope everyone is staying safe and healthy!
> 
> **Crystal Keys**
> 
> 1\. Cetus (Sea Monster)
> 
> **Gold Keys**
> 
> 1\. Virgo (The Maiden) Earth Magic
> 
> 2\. Cancer (The Crab)
> 
> 3\. Aquarius (The Water Bearer) Water Magic
> 
> 4\. Taurus (The Bull)
> 
> 5\. Ophiuchus (The Serpent)
> 
> 6\. Libra (The Balance/Scales) Gravity Magic
> 
> **Silver Keys**
> 
>   
> 1\. Canis Major/Padfoot (The Great Dog) Shadow Magic<
> 
> 2\. Pyxis (The Compass) Directional Magic
> 
>   
> 3\. Crux (The Southern Cross) Archive Magic
> 
> 4\. Horologium (The Clock)
> 
> 5\. Chameleon/Cam (The Chameleon) Invisibility Magic
> 
> 6\. Lyra (The Lyre)
> 
> 7\. Pavo (The Peacock) (temporary?)
> 
> 8\. Canis Minor (Little Dog, Plue) (temporary?)
> 
> 9\. Ursa Minor (Little Bear) (temporary?)  
> 
> 
> Also! Farron the character and a lot of the information about Bosco belongs to Desna, who has given me permission to use their world, though I did add some things and change a few places to fill in some holes to put my own spin on it! Farron is not the final pairing for this story, by any means, not to worry. He's just a handsome guy Hari/Lucy has found that she likes. Also I know we went of the rails of canon, but trust me when I say this will all be really important to the plot later I have lots of plans.
> 
> I hope you enjoyed the update everyone! 😊💖

**Author's Note:**

> As promised from the Muse's Playground it's now its own story! Look for the next chapter later in the week! I hope you all will enjoy this and some of the things to come. Thanks so much to everyone who commented how much they liked this story in the Muse's Playground, it's thanks to you that it's being continued!


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